


Breaking the Beast ~ (CURRENTLY UNEDITED)

by Fear_Itself



Series: The Death of MrBeast [1]
Category: MrBeast - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, quackity - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Alexis | Quackity Is A Badass, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Alexis | Quackity, Badass, Blackmail, D-Company, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Homelessness, Hypothermia, I Feast Upon Your Tears, Implied/Referenced Torture, Indian Mafia, Jimmy Donaldson Has PTSD, Jimmy Just Needs a Hug, Kidnapping, Lucid Dreaming, Must Read, Night Terrors, Nightmares, No One Is Okay, On the Run, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Presumed Dead, Sadness, Sick Character, Suffering, Suicidal Thoughts, This Is A Mans Fanfiction, Touch-Starved, VidCon YouTube Convention, Winter, book 1 of 3, light fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:33:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 31,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21603031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fear_Itself/pseuds/Fear_Itself
Summary: "I don't want to be saved Alex... I want to be set free."Every child dreams of being one of the rich and famous. The reasons may vary but the goal remains the same. The world has a nature of luring the vulnerable down dangerous paths. In Jimmy Donaldson's youth, the same happened to him. But unlike most of them, he made it. After years of hard work, he became the base for an entire genre and been a YouTuber only rising since 2018.Now he's 22 and life couldn't be better. Or so the world thought. Behind closed doors, something horrible happened that intertwined him with forces he had no interest in. Reality had become a nightmare he can't wake up from and no one can hear him on the other side.One night he made his escape from the box of lies he trapped himself in only causing a whole new world of problems. Now on the streets, he's back at square one, but for good this time. Even away from those that made it hard to keep up his walls, it wasn't much longer he could keep fooling himself. Jimmy's entire world was set on fire and even if someone tries to save him from the flames and ash, it might be too late.They may have just broken the beast~~~https://discord.gg/NPmqhx3
Relationships: Chandler Hallow & Jimmy Donalson, Chris | ChrisO2 & Jimmy Donaldson, Jimmy Donaldson & Alexis | Quackity, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: The Death of MrBeast [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630822
Comments: 40
Kudos: 55





	1. What Happens After Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "MrBeast didn't think anything interesting would happen that day."
> 
> A downward spiral begins
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Join the Discord!
> 
> https://discord.gg/NPmqhx3

Mr. Beast didn't think anything interesting would happen that day. They were supposed to go film a video that particular winter evening but the temperature was inching to the negatives and only doomed to go lower. Not like filming a video was the most interesting thing he could be doing. They've become almost too ordinary, but the jokes and the laughter and the joy he gets from those around him was enough to suffice for it. Now lounging in the warehouse things were abnormally quiet. Jake was passed out on the couch, snoring lightly. Chandler and Chris we're sharing headphones watching a QuackityHQ video on blast volume and Garret was browsing through his Twitter feed while listening to one of that 24/7 lofi live streams. But Beast was just happy spinning slowly in his office chair letting his own thoughts consume him. It's been a long time when he could just sort through whatever was on his mind. With the soft hum of the heater acting as a sort of white noise, he reveled in the peace, even if just for a few moments in the long stretch of eternity that should be his life.

"Jimmy!" Garret began, excitement rising in his tone

"Ya?"

"The T-Series channel got deleted." He opened one eye, disbelief painting his face.

"I'm sorry what?"

"It's true, the idiots in charge... they actually thought it was a good idea to aim some content to kids and look where it got them. Both the new kid's channel and the main channel got deleted as punishment." 

"What a bunch of boomers... wait... doesn't that mean that PewDiePie is number 1 again?"

"Holy shit dude I think you're right." Leaning back in his chair, a smile crossed his face.

"Oh my god, all that money I spent isn't in vain. Finally, after all these years!"

"None of the money you spend is in vain. Besides, you'll just get more!" Jimmy chuckled at that.

"Hey every ATM has its breaking point. I'm gonna overheat at some point and then who will you rely on to pay your bills?"

"I'll just steal what's in your safe!"

"Seriously? I have legit 5 bucks, 3 pennies, and an old McDonalds toy in there."

"If you have the McQueen McDonalds toy I can bribe the tax people with it."

"Sure you will Garret..." 

***

Days pass. He celebrated with Felix and actually got around to filming 'Last One to Stop Caroling Wins 10,000'. The holidays were just around the corner and the pace was picking up. Opening his 50¢ holiday store and trying to get nice gifts for his friends and family, things were just stressful enough to keep him on his toes but laid back enough for the final weeks of 2020 to be light. The eve before the opening of the holiday store, they still had a lot to prepare. Jake and Garret were getting the last of the lights on the building while Chandler (who was surprisingly good at sewing) was working in the break room on specialized Santa suit for Jake since Amazon was sold out of one's his size. But Jimmy had to deal with the literal man child, aka Chris for decorating the tree. 

"And I get to put the star on right?"

"Yes, Chris you can put the star on WHEN WE'RE FINISHED."

"Move faster than, that's the best part!"

"Hey if you wanna get to putting the star on your gonna have to actually put ornaments on instead of just passing them to me every 45 seconds."

"But then your gonna pull out the 'that ornament doesn't go there' bullshit! I'm sorry, are there designated branches for ornaments? Didn't think so." Jimmy started laughing.

"Well, that's because you find the most unstable branches and put the heaviest ones there."

"So?"

"So! ...Ugh here just keep giving me ornaments." They kept at it for a while, him hanging the decorations and Chris... well he brought the mood up? As they finished the last few, Jimmy sent Chris to go check up on Chandler so he could do something. Inside one of the translucent plastic ornaments, he hid 10k for one of the customers or the crew to find. Smiling at his work, Chris and Chandler returned carrying the Santa suit.

"It's done! Get the Viking in here to try it on!" Jimmy nodded and went out.

"Jake get in here, your suits done."

"Perfect timing!" He yelled back. "We just finished with the lights." Garret and Jake climbed down, tearing off their snow-dusted coats the moment they stepped in. 

"Here go put it on! Hopefully, it works..." Jake disappeared into the restroom while the rest of them looked at the tree. 

"Nicely done! Did Chris get to put the star on like he wanted to?" Garret asked.

"Yep. That's why it's crooked." 

"Hey, I've got shaky hands deal with it." Crossing his arms, he looked away suppressing a laugh. A few minutes later, Jake returned. Giving a little spin in the outfit, Chandler was excited to see that it fit. 

"So what are we gonna call you... Santa-Viking?" Chris questioned. 

"Sure, sounds fitting." Yawning, Chris walked over to Jimmy and put his head on his shoulder.

"Can we go home now?"

"You've done literally nothing to make you tired... but I guess we should. We've got an early start tomorrow!" 

"Alright then, see ya in the morning." As the group began to walk out, Jimmy decided to add a little more starting cash in the register, changing the 500 to 700. Grabbing the keys, he shut off the lights and locked the door behind him. The cold winter air hit him like a bag of bricks and he pulled his dark blue jacket closer to him. Cars were pulling out of the lot while he looked for his own. 

"Huh, that's weird... I could've sworn I parked right-" His eyes widened in panic as something muffled him. A hand. Kicking and screaming, his heart rate spiked to the point he could almost hear it thumping in his head. The grip around him got tighter. 

"Now." He tried to decipher the voice. A thick accent, maybe it's- But something was hit across his head and the faint lights on the side of the road disappeared into the velvety night...


	2. Behind a Veil of Influence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Being kidnapped for three weeks is NOT a big deal. The wounds inside and out will heal. 
> 
> He was ok. 
> 
> At least that's what he told himself."

December 22nd, 2020

"50%"

"95%"

"55%"

"95%..."

"That's too much, the most I'm doing is 60."

"90% take it or leave it."

"Leave it." A knife was stabbed in his leg. What scared him the most was that it felt like nothing.

"95!"

"Fine okay, 90%."

"Deal." Something was hit across his head and the world went black.

***

Two weeks later...

***

"Remember, you speak a word of this and we bury your friends. Understand?" Jimmy lightly nodded, feeling too weak to do anything else. "SPEAK UP!" A gun was shoved to his face by the driver, waking him up from his daze. 

"Yes, yes, goddamn yes!"

"Good." He heard the click of the door unlocking. "You know where to send the cash!" Getting out of the car as fast as possible, he began making his way to the warehouse as the car drove off. It pained him not to see any of these people get what they deserve in legal action. Not like he didn't have the cash to go through with it. But his friend's safety came first. He could live off 10% of his revenue, right? About a 1,000 dollars per video is what he calculated to keep. People live on minimum wage. If people can do that, he could do this. Jimmy decided he'd take this in stride. The wounds were healing and he could fake a smile until he made it. Just needed to act natural. 

Being kidnapped for three weeks is NOT a big deal. The wounds inside and out will heal. 

He was ok. 

At least that's what he told himself.

The walk was 10 minutes between where the driver parked and the warehouse so he recapped, making sure he had all his details straight so he didn't mess up. T-Series got the Indian Mafia group D-Company to kidnap him in order to get 90% of his ad revenue. That he knew. Why they wouldn't just kidnap PewDiePie is beyond him. Maybe they thought he was weaker. He laughed to himself.

They were probably right. 

D-Company got something out of it to. Get him to stop talking bad online about there take over of the Indian Government. He was an active advocate on his Twiter about the issue. Jimmy was fine without being to talk about that. It was really just getting the ad revenue to T-Series without being noticed. That was when he remembered something. He also needed to pay his employees. Would he have enough money to sustain himself then? Maybe he could get another job but then people might notice him and ask questions and a million scenarios started swirling through his mind and he almost felt dizzy with the need to sit down but he couldn't think he couldn't afford to think or else it's all gonna come crashing down and then people are going to find out and get hurt and... and he realized he was at the door already. Composing himself, part of him wondered if it was a good idea. Maybe if he disappeared forever they'd forget about him and then he wouldn't have to worry about ever putting them in danger ever again. Part of him was selfish though. He wanted to stay and keep doing videos, he wanted happiness he couldn't get far from home. That selfishness took over his entire body as he twisted the doorknob. 

"Hello?" Going down the hall of offices, he looked into each room. No one was inside. They probably all went home but it's worth checking while he's here just in case. "Anyone...?" Faintly, he could hear voices down in the main studio. Quietly, he opened the door. Jimmy didn't really know what he'd see, but a makeshift funeral certainly wasn't it. "Um am I late for something? I never gave permission to sell the studio to anyone quite yet." Everyone turned around. His friends and family and associates... "Did you guys seriously think I was dead?" Chris bolted out of his seat first, giving him a tight hug all to fast. "You realize I need oxygen to breathe..." But he didn't let go. When he finally did, the two met eyes, tears threatening to spill from Chris.

"It's you... it's really you?"

"Yes yes, it is... I wasn't gone that long I don't see the big deal."

"You were gone for three weeks! We thought... Goddamnit don't scare me like that." Grabbing his shoulders, Jimmy painted a facade over his face.

"I promise, I'll never leave you again... Um, no one was filming then right, I don't want to give fangirls any ideas." But his attempt to lighten the mood was in vain as people rushed over to see him again. Making his rounds, he indulged in the brief moments where he just forgot about his worries. Once everyone got over the fact that he was still alive, what felt like thousands of questions were thrown at him. 

"Where have you been?"

"What happened to you?"

"Did you fake your own death?"

"Please quiet down, I'll answer all your questions just one at a time." His voice ended up becoming lost in the rumbling sea surrounding him. Backing away, he hit Chandler who gave him a confused look. "I'm tired... can I just go home, maybe watch a movie?"

"Are you trying to dodge the questions?"

"No... I just have had a long day." Dragging Chris over to help, they managed to quiet them while he ran out back the way he came. Chandler and Chris followed. "A funeral is pretty lame without a purpose, wanna ditch?"

"Sure... wanna watch something back at your place?" Jimmy nodded and offered to drive, least he could do. On the way back to his house, they asked questions which he answered with the help of the lie Bhushan Kumar, head of T-Series so 'kindly' gave him; he needed a break from YouTube. Ok maybe it was garbage but he was good at spinning the slightest thread into a complex web that any truth seeker could never navigate. Besides even if he couldn't he would have to. They weren't allowed to find out. When they arrived, Chris went to check for popcorn while Chandler and Jimmy looked through the movie selections. 

"Ooh, what about a Star Wars movie?"

"Seen it a million times," Chris yelled from the kitchen.

"Ok... maybe something new, how about Space Jam 2?"

"That's not on Demand yet Chan." 

"Really, that was so good!"

"It came out last week."

"SO-"

"How about something old?" Jimmy began, looking through the movies of the '40s.

"Can't be in black and white."

"The '40s weren't all black and white."

"Can't be dull." 

"Easy then, Rope."

"Rope?"

"Alfred Hitchcock's murder mystery film. Very colorful and the suspense is far from dull."

"Sure." Chandler sighed. The buttery smell of popcorn filled the room as Jimmy got up to get blankets and pillows. 

"Chan-Chan get some sodas!"

"On it, what do you have Jim?"

"Really, you know I hate being called Jim."

"Don't dodge the question JIM."

"We got like... Pepsi... or something."

"And 7-Up apparently. Plastic or glass cups?"

"Glass, I'll take a Pepsi with ice." Going to his room, he grabbed the big king-sized blanket, as many pillows as he could fit in his arms, and a pair of warm socks for himself, he ran out quickly before it dropped on the floor.

"Sure we need that much stuff?" Chris asked, pouring the popcorn into one big bowl.

"Yes, in case if one of us falls asleep." With everything ready he collapsed on the couch and opened up the blanket. Chris on his right and Chandler on his left, he pressed play and began munching on popcorn. As he got lost in the plot and dialogue, Jimmy felt at peace for the first time in what seems like forever. At some point, the other two fell asleep, and thankfully when he closed his eyes, sleep came just as easily...

~~


	3. The Mask on the Other Side of the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The air was suffocating."

3 Weeks Later ~ January 26th, 2021

It felt... strange... being back in the studio after so long. It's been almost 2 months since he's filmed a video. It was really only then when he began to notice how different he was on camera and not. His personality when being filmed was the equivalent of a hype beast, keeping morale high and plugging merch. In real life, he tried to keep that upbeat attitude in everything he did but today he felt like he was faking it if only a bit. That morning when the contestants arrived, he was still a bit sleepy but snapped out of it real quick. They were doing last to leave the pool of pennies wins it.

"I'm gonna let the contestants in, keep pouring in pennies!" He yelled to Jake. Unlocking the studio doors, four people entered. Many fans complained that he never lets kids into his contests despite kids being his fanbase so this time, he picked four kids (with parental permission) from the nearby high school to compete. First was Gabriel, a black-haired 15-year-old with purple headphones around his neck. His bright blue Nike jacket was swapped out for a Mr. Beast hoodie shortly before his arrival and his coach was Chris. Next was Zack, a blonde kid with a brace filled smile. He was also 15 and his coach was Jake. Then there was Zeke, with his glasses and stoic expression. Jimmy suspected he'd stay in a while but his coach wasn't him, it was Chandler. His person was Quinn, a girl with dark blue hair who was supposed to serve detention today (but got bailed out by Chandler). She'd be a good face for the winner, she had a sociable attitude that could keep people entertained. But it wasn't his job to decide that. 

Shortly after, the video began. An hour goes by with little activity, no one will budge thankfully. Gabe ended up getting the stellar idea to see how many of the pennies he could count until he got so bored he wanted to rip his own eyes out. 

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68... Ok I wanna rip my own eyes out I'm done." Chris fell on the floor in saddness.

"Goddamnit, Gabe so close to perfection." Suddenly, the kid smirked.

"Fine, I'll go one more." Slowly he pulled out another penny, placing it on the stack before finally saying... **"69."**

"OOOOOOOOH." The entire room filled with excitement and Jimmy couldn't help but laugh at the group's utter stupidity. When it quieted down, he decided now was a good time for lunch. Zeke ended up falling asleep so Chandler was gonna stay behind, entertain the contestants or something. Quinn asked for Burger King. The closest was 20 minutes but if it kept her in Jimmy said he'd be happy to go get some. Gabe asked for mac 'n' cheese for which Chris decided Panera was a good spot. Zack decided to just ask for 'them good breadsticks from Olive Garden' with nothing else. With the orders in place, the three-headed out. Chandler being the Sneaky-Boy™ he was let them use their phones as long as they let Zeke sleep. He was about to head out as to not be considered culprit for them receiving their phones but Quinn called him over, a slightly lost look on her face.

"What's up?" He asked, leaning lazily on the bathtub frame. Is that what it is, a frame? Chandler wasn't quite sure.

"Is it just me or does Jimmy seem a bit... off... today?"

"No, it certainly isn't just you. Don't tell him I told you this but he's been acting off ever since he came back. He's been a lot jumpier... lot more distant. And it's just so strange that it's perfectly timed with that little 'break' of his." He looked up, Zeke was still asleep and the other two were lost in their phones.

"I'll see if I can get something out of him. He might open up to someone he thinks he'll never see again." 

"Well if that's the case, can I have your number so you can text me any findings?"

"Sure. Make sure you don't tell him about this."

"Of course." She added herself into his phone and Chandler's mind wandered as she did so. Hopefully, this will all just pass by, but he had to prepare for the worst...

***

He saw him.

He could've **SWORN** he saw him. 

The shadowy figure taunted him from the parking lot.

Why was he here?

Just to make him suffer more?

 **"Go away."** He punched what was in front of him in an attempt to scare him off.

The blood dripping down his fingers only seemed to lure him closer. 

The pain that spiraled around him was dizzying. 

Like a carousel that won't slow down

It was nearly suffocating.

The air was _suffocating._

Toxicity filled his lungs with each breath being deeper and each breath turning his insides to ash.

The figure swayed from left to right waiting for him to be nothing more than a pile of dust.

A pile of toxic dust that would blow through the night and kill those who caught a whisk of it.

And those who breathed it in would become more dust leaving the Earth as nothing but

Ash

and smoke

and Ash

and

Fire

Dawood Ibrahim set his world on 

**Fire**

because 

dust

brings

ash

and

ash

brings

**Fire-**

"SIR!" Jimmy felt like he was propelled backwards at full speed as he returned to reality. The shadow was nothing more than the leaves of a tree. Slowly he turned to face the window, heart pounding.

"Oh, ya could I have a number 9 please..."

***

40 hours. Jimmy had been awake for 40 hours, commentating on all the events that happened. His eyes stained a blood-shot red and hair all over the place, he looked like a mess. Only Quinn and Zeke were left. The latter had fallen asleep again and his contestant was just making small talk with him in an attempt to keep him awake.

"You know what I'm out." This certainly helped him up a bit.

"Wait why?"

"Zeke is gonna be here for a while with his ability to just snap asleep whenever and you look awful."

"Wow geez how mean."

"I meant you look like you desperately need sleep. Just say who won and film giving him the money tomorrow."

"You absolutely sure about this? I can go for a long time. Hell, I can go another 40 hours."

"No, no you cannot. Even a..." She trailed off while yawning before picking up again. "Even a saint has there limits." Standing up, most of the pennies fell off of her as she heard muscles and bones crack. Quinn stretched before dusting a few stray pennies off her shoulders. She pulled herself out of the tub and went over to wake up Zeke herself.

"Hey wake up."

"Wha...?" His eyes slowly blinked open.

"You just won 10,000 dollars."

"Huh... really? Oh... yay...!" His tone lacked excitement but everyone was tired. He'd probably be more excited in the morning. The two talked a bit while Jimmy dragged Chandler out of bed to see the winner. The four of them quickly filmed a transition slide to use for the next day.

"Alright this has been fun but I'm gonna drive home. Be back tomorrow." Zeke started walking out and Quinn followed but they were quickly stopped.

"Nah it's cold and late. We can set you guys up air mattresses in the offices. Then you won't have to drive back in the morning."

"Really? Thanks that'd be cool." Jimmy started going to grab the mattresses but Chandler grabbed his shirt and slowed him down. 

"Go sleep, you look exhausted. I'll set em up for the night."

"You sure Chan?"

"Ya, it shouldn't take too long." He shrugged and went to the couch in his office. Unraveling the throw blanket, he was too tired to change into the clothes that were neatly folded on the chair in front of him and just had his Alexa turn off the lights. Letting his eyes close, sleep came almost too easily.

***

Quinn felt surprisingly well-rested the next morning. They got her and Zeke a nice breakfast of Panera and the recording time went by quickly. Before she knew it, the cameras stopped rolling and she was calling her mom to tell her she was done. While Zeke was going with Chandler to buy a few things for some extra footage, Quinn headed to her car. 

"Hey wait!" She turned around to see Jimmy running with something in his hands. 

"Hm? What's up?"

"Just thought I'd give you a bit of recompense for the trouble. You stayed up for a long time so I think you deserve a bit of cash. How does 500 dollars sound to you?" Quinn almost opened her mouth to accept the offer but remembered back to a conversation from almost two nights ago. She was only half-joking when talking about that but Chandler seemed dead serious on wanting answers. 

_"I'll see if I can get something out of him. He might open up to someone he thinks he'll never see again."_

"It sounds great actually. I'll take it." The money was handed to her but she pushed his hand back in a split second. "BUT first you tell me what's been up with you." Quinn knew one of his weaknesses was people denying his money. He'd do what it takes to get them to accept. In her case, this might just work. She wasn't quite sure if it was real, but part of her could've sworn panic coated his face for just a brief moment.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" 

"You've been distant for the whole competition. My older brother was in one once and you were a lot more... engaged let's say then I've seen. Like something was troubling you. And after that Burger King run? God, you looked so pale like you've seen a ghost!" He chuckled lightly and tried getting me to grab it.

"Maybe you didn't get a lot of sleep last night because you are talking nonsense! Here just take the cash and get a good night's sleep for me."

"Answer my question first." His smile wavered ever so slightly.

"I just did, nothing is wrong and you're looking far too closely into the little things."

"Not that bullshit. Something's on your mind and the least you can do is vent about it to make yourself feel a bit better. Not like your seeing me again."

"Please just take the money."

"You seem suspicious." He sighed.

"I'm gonna put it on the front of your car. Do as you please with it. I've got other things to deal with today." Without even a goodbye, he returned to the warehouse. Part of her wanted to take it but she couldn't bring herself to. It seemed hypocritical of her to do so. Quinn ended up leaving it right on a concrete brick not too far from the warehouse before driving away. As the cash blew into the wind from the lack of weight on it, she made her way onto the road and looked for Chandler's contact.


	4. He Had Forgotten He Was Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Chandler Hallow get the fuck out of my office."

3 months, 2 weeks, and 12 days later ~ May 22nd, 2021

Jimmy had to start wearing a mask. No not a real mask but a metaphorical one. This mask was the same one he put up on camera or around fans. The only difference now is that in front of family and friends, he couldn't be Jimmy. He was Mr. Beast. Mr. Beast had become his personality and it would stay that way if he desired to keep them safe. Mr. Beast was a go-lucky and energetic philanthropist with the best intentions at heart. But Jimmy Donaldson was a rare sight. He was a paranoid and trauma-ridden man who grasped onto non-existant slivers of hope. That mask had managed to stay on in front of everyone, practically fooling himself. But he had forgotten something. He had forgotten he was human and that the people around him were human. Despite their destructive nature, they can be quite intuitive if they so choose to be. Chandler Hallow was one of these people. And maybe he couldn't win a competition for the life of him, but he was at the least observant. Perhaps too observant for his own good...

***

The next time Chandler took notice to his friend's odd behavior was actually a bit after the text he got from Quinn. They slept over at the warehouse again after filming a video and he left his office door open. When Chandler looked through the door, he was sleeping but he was physically shaking. He woke him up but Jimmy said it was just a nightmare he couldn't quite pull any details from. The next morning he told Chris what happened. He said he'd talk to him about it. Chandler never found out what Jimmy told Chris or if he even spoke with him, to begin with.

Over the course of the following months, he never saw anything major. It was just small little actions and mannerisms that made him look up from whatever he was doing and just take a mental note of it. If Chandler let himself be carelessly in the moment and not let his thoughts linger while recording a video or watching a movie back at Jimmy's house or just chilling in the warehouse these things wouldn't be noticeable. Though when he did take a step back and just examine the room, it was almost like he was a video game and going through the world barrier and seeing things he wasn't supposed to. Well maybe not as exciting as that but you get the picture. It was one gloomy Saturday afternoon when he finally told someone about his findings. It wasn't rainy out but could just sense it would whether your inside or outside. Jimmy, Garret, Jake, and Marcus were out shopping for supplies for the next competition so it was just Chris and Chandler who was checking all the cameras were charging and had enough memory that particular day.

"Have you noticed anything... odd... with Jimmy?"

"Odd? Ya definitely, last week he opened a pickle jar without my help! Like where did he just suddenly get those hand muscles from?" 

"No, no seriously. I feel like he's been jumpy. Sometimes he seems like he just gets lost in his own thoughts so easily."

"Well, I haven't noticed anything. Are you sure you're not just imagining things, Chan?" 

"Why would I be imagining things!"

"Woah no need to get defensive just trying to think." 

"Look can't you just talk to him?"

"Couldn't you?"

"You're his best friend though, he's gotta listen to you!"

"You're his other best friend."

"But you're his main best friend. Please Chris, just talk to him... You could say I sent you if you wanted to. I'll pay-"

"Fine, I'll do it." Chandler quickly pulled Chris into a hug.

"Thank you!"

"Wow, you must be really worried about him."

"Of course, I'm his other best friend after all."

***

Jimmy was completely confused. It was May, why the fuck was there a cold front in MAY? Wearing his 40 million sub hoodie, he began carrying boxes in the warehouse. They were going back to basics for this video. Buying as many little kid toy cars as they could and doing a huge race with fans on them. Well, this was more of a prep video for something they were doing at Vid-Con with fans and little cars but it would still be fun. Hopefully, he'd fit in it. As he brought the first car in, he stumbled to keep it in his arms but managed to get through the wide-open doors. Once he entered, he felt part of the weight leave his arms. 

"Can't have you breaking your back before a video just by carrying a car." On the other side of the pink and white box stood Chris, now backing it into the warehouse and they put it down to start a pile where they could unbox them. 

"Are all the cameras charged?"

"One of the cameras for the drone is still finishing up but they will all be set for tomorrow. Though we might need another pack of those memory card things, I counted 8 that only have 75% or less of the space on it." 

"Alright, could you go to Walmart or something and pick those up?"

"Actually I needed to talk to you about something, maybe Chandler could go?" Jimmy gave him a perplexed look but Chris quickly filled in the verbal gap that he left behind him. "Besides, you need someone to help bring all these boxes in!"

"Right." He sent Ty to go get Chandler while they kept loading the boxes in the warehouse. The whole operation, lead by Jake, went smoothly and when it was almost done, Jimmy broke the silence between his toy car lifting partner. "So is this something that needs to be discussed in private."

"Nah I don't think so, just quietly." As they brought in the last box, the two went a little way from the unboxing site and leaned against the wall. "So apparently, Chandler wanted me to ask you if you're doing alright. He thinks your acting a bit abnormal and jumpy." Jimmy went silent. Not long enough to be noticeable, just barely enough to compose. 

"Ya I'm fine, just haven't been getting the best sleep."

"Aw someone getting nightmares, need someone to tuck you to bed at night?" Jimmy chuckled softly.

"I dunno it'd make the fans pretty happy. At least the ones that ship us."

"24-hour cuddle challenge. The gayest challenge you've seen yet." The two started laughing again and slowly returned to Jake and company.

"You best believe how many people would take that the wrong way."

"Yo Chris!" It was a different voice who broke through.

"Ya Marcus!"

"Can you roll the cars outside?" He looked to Jimmy for a second who gave a small nod.

"You best believe I can." As he ran over, Jimmy got an idea.

"Wait, Chris!" He turned around, holding the car from moving with his foot. Jimmy began wrapping a scarf around Chris's neck, one with a holiday-themed MrBeast logo.

"Keep warm, it's gonna only get chillier." The two met eyes before in unison replying.

"You best believe!"

***

"So what did he say?" Chandler asked as the two of them locked down the warehouse that night.

"Nothing much really." Chris began, voice half-muffled through the scarf he got earlier that day. "Says he isn't getting the best sleep." Chandler processed it for a few moments before coming to a conclusion.

"Oh, I'm not buying the bullcrap for one second!"

"What do you mean? Jimmy doesn't have a reason to lie to us."

"Not one that we know of. I'm gonna find out what it might be."

"Chandler I think you should just let it be, it's probably nothing."

"Ok but what if it IS something. Then what Chris? Should I just let it be then as well? Huh!"

"Well if something is going on, we can cross that bridge if we have to. For now, just relax Chan, he'll come to you if he's ready to." Chandler sighed at Chris's response but decided to shut his mouth about it for now...

***

June 2nd, 2021

Jimmy didn't get nightmares. Thankfully, nightmares haven't been a symptom of his self-diagnosed PTSD. That was until three days ago. A horrible and gory terror entered his unconscious thoughts late into the night. It scared him so bad that he ended up not sleeping the next night, and then the night after that and again and then he all the sudden was on the track to not sleep. Downing five hour energies, sodas, and coffee whenever he could, he felt dreary and out of it as they went to film their first video of June. But nobody noticed to his knowledge. They wrapped up that evening and he started helping put cameras away.

Chandler did notice though. Whatever problem was going on seemed to be getting worse as each day Jimmy seemed to be more and more distant. At some point, he was going to be out of his grasp so he needed to talk to him. The thought of it made his stomach sink. What if he thought Chandler was weird like Chris did? He considered sending Chris again but he might just become more suspicious of him. He saw him in his office, plugging in some of the cameras and folding tripods down.

_Now or never._

Well I mean he could technically talk to him tomorrow he'd be back for filming but it felt like now or never.

"Hey Jimmy, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure?" Chandler closed the door behind him and the anxious feeling built up. "Is it about the lower paycheck. I promise it'll raise it's just viewership is a bit lower after my disappearance and stuff."

"No, it's not about that, though that is a discussion we need to have soon. It's about... you..."

"Huh? Did I do something wrong?" He saw him suppress a yawn mid-way through his sentence. The little things like that just... 

"Of course not! I just... I just wanted to ask if you're doing ok. I don't know if it's just me being really strange but you seem to be... I don't know... isolating yourself? Like keeping us a little more out of your personal life. I mean I don't mean to be seeming rude, intruding on something that could've happened but it's just abnormal." He was about to trail off but Chandler quickly composed himself.

"I'm doing fine, I'm sorry if I've come off 'isolating' as you put it."

"It's alright I've just been seeing you being really tired. Like is something worrying you or...?"

"Just have been having a couple of nightmares. I promise you I'm great."

"Nightmares about what...?"

"Nothing really..." Jimmy now appeared to be the one trying to compose himself.

"It doesn't really look like nothing when you look like you haven't gotten sleep in ages."

"I'm obviously getting sleep. How else am I getting up in the morning to record or go do something?" Now he was getting slightly defensive. Subconsciously it made Chandler a bit more curious.

"Because you're forcing yourself to?"

"..." Jimmy went silent. "Let's continue this conversation tomorrow, I think we're all pretty tired..."

"No, no you are not dodging this. If that's your approach your hiding something." Chandler lost his edge quickly knowing that it would make matters worse. "I just want to help, talk to me."

"Have you ever thought that maybe I'm being like this because I desire something like privacy when the better part of my life is public knowledge?"

"But this isn't going to YouTube. I just want to-"

"You're getting repetitive. Just leave me alone right now and we'll finish this in the morning ok?"

"No not ok! Tell me what these nightmares are about." Chandler also noticed he wasn't meeting his gaze. His eyes stay fixated to the ground for the most part.

"Chandler, please leave my office."

"Not till I get answers."

"I'm trying to be as polite about this as I can. PLEASE get out of my office."

"I will if I know you're ok. Look me in the eyes Jimmy and honestly tell me the truth. Are you ok?" He put his hand on his shoulder, Jimmy was shaking slightly. Slowly, he began looking up. His eyes were full of fear, a kind of fear he's never seen before. Like the kind you may have if you're about to die. It was a horrifying sight. What was even more horrifying was when his gaze snapped to something. Something full of terror and anger. Chandler for the first time was so focused in. It was too late when he finally noticed a screwdriver to his throat.

"Chandler Hallow, get the **fuck** out of my office." The anger was quiet. The kind most scary because they are the most conscious of their actions even when in complete insanity. 

"Jimmy Donaldson. I know you, you won't actually stab me. There's no point in having it out, just put it down."

"Oh, Chandler, Chandler, Chandler... **you have no clue how far I'll go to protect you**."

"What the hell do you mean 'protect me'? That's like the opposite of that!"

"Get out so I don't have to hurt you. It's a last resort I don't want to take." Chandler, feeling a desire for saftey began running out, tears filling his eyes. 

"I heard yelling is everything ok?" The door locked when he closed it. Coming towards him was Chris. In that moment, he broke down.

"I -I tried to talk to Jimmy. HE THREATNED ME WITH A GODDAMN SCREWDRIVER! HE PUT IT TO MY THROAT AND-" He lost what he was saying and let tears trickle down his face.

"Woah alright, here calm down and we'll talk about it. Should I go to Jimmy or..."

"No, leave him I don't want any of us getting hurt." Leaning his head on Chris's shoulder, the fear subsided as the two left the hall...

***

Bang!

The screwdriver hit the ground.

He dropped it.

Looking to his hands his heart began to race.

**"What the fuck have I done?"**

Jimmy felt sick to his stomach.

He just threatened to kill Chandler!

Is he going to go to jail?

Will they think he's insane?

A million thoughts swirled through Jimmy's mind as he collapsed to the ground on the verge of a panic attack. Tears fell and he felt dizzy like his whole office was spinning around him. When he heard the voices slowly fade out and the people he realized something.

He couldn't stick around after this.

It was too late, another day and Chandler would figure out the truth and they could die! How would he leave? Just wordlessly collect his things and leave? No, they deserve some sort of parting message. 

So that's exactly what he did.

***

His mouse hovered over the upload button. One-click and his fate would be sealed. The second it was uploaded, thousands of people would've clicked on the video. He couldn't just delete it because those people would still know his inner thoughts and it would spread like wildfire. He didn't reveal anything in the video, it just had him apologize to people and warn his fans to never say hi if they see him on the streets. But if he didn't upload it, maybe he could lie his way out of the situation in the morning and pray Chandler doesn't take any severe action. But he was going to find out one way or another if he stayed. Chandler was observant and he hated that fact. So he pressed upload. A few loading screens later and the video was public. He looked at his watch. 1:55 PM. He should head out. But to where? Jimmy didn't quite know yet. He was probably gonna be homeless for some time but that's better than having Dawood Ibrahim possibly come kill Chandler or something. First, he had to pack though. He grabbed a backpack and started putting the food from his minifridge in it as well as the spare clothes that he kept that didn't have a MrBeast logo on it. Taking off his 40 million subscriber hoodie, he replaced it with a plain dark green jacket. 

Jimmy looked down to the silver and black hoodie sorrowfully. The mask had fallen off and with it came the identity. Here in this warehouse, in this office, he'd leave his facade of MrBeast behind. He wished to do something symbolic of the death of MrBeast. Picking up a different orange hoodie, he had a fun idea. Well, it wasn't 'fun' he was about to abandon everything that made him unique. Suppose it was just a special thing. Going outside the warehouse with the hoodie, he grabbed a wooden pole and secured it to the ground. Slipping the hoodie over the pole he pulled a lighter from his pocket and set it ablaze.

**He was going to burn MrBeast at the stake.**

He filmed it and snapped a couple of photos but then put his phone down and just watched. The fire lit up the night sky and Jimmy just forgot of his trouble for a moment. Sparks flew up like stars while smoke and ash consumed the area. Somewhere in his mind, he could hear his internet persona beg for help as the flames began to swallow him. The beast struggling to escape as he experienced a most painful death. When he had enough, he swung his backpack over his shoulder and went to the RV and started it up. A twinge of regret filled him. Should he really be doing this? His eyes were drawn from the flames to the warehouse and back to the flames again.

It wasn't an easy choice, it was the responsible choice. Well at least in his eyes. Deciding to stall a bit, he posted the video and photos to Twitter and Instagram with the caption 'The Death of MrBeast'. Deleting the social media off his phone once done, he suddenly realized there was nothing left to complete. Unless he changed his mind, he would have to leave. Looking one last time at the warehouse and the fire, he mumbled a goodbye, sat down in the RV, and drove back into whatever unknown was awaiting him on the other side...

~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Damn 3,028 words... I hope you guys enjoyed. Happy New Year and I hope you have a good time in 2020. I sure liked 2019 and I think 2020 will be the same way. Thanks for reading Breaking the Beast. 2020 is gonna bring a whole lot of twists and turns for the story since this is only just the beginning! Cya guys in the next one!)
> 
> ~Fear Itself


	5. The Death of MrBeast - Part 1 ~ Fear & Loathing in California

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sadly, death never came."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The next three chapters are going to show what happened between June of 2021 to Vid-Con winter edition from three points of view. This chapter will show Jimmy's downward spiral on the streets as every step he takes to appear to be one closer to death. The second will follow the dismantling of MrBeast's friend group. While Chris and Garret start up a fundraiser to continue to afford a worldwide search for Jimmy, Chandler is torn between helping the search or disconnecting from the friends of the man who nearly killed him. The final chapter shows some of the events Quackity (Alex) went through in Vid-Con and the paranoid feeling he can't quite explain. The final chapter of the 3-parter I mean; there is still plenty more to go.)

June 6th, 2021 **-** October 12th, 2021

"If anyone can go into our Area 51 video and decipher what the license plate of our RV is it would help greatly with our search for Jimmy Donaldson. Thanks!" It was that tweet from Chris that made him abandon his car in the middle of Ohio. Now there was no roof over his head. It was just him, the clothes on his back, and the bag swung over his shoulders. Sitting on a bench in the middle of the busy Columbus Ohio streets, he began planning. Jimmy wanted to get to Anaheim California because it was a huge city that he might be hard to track in. The fastest route by foot with no breaks was 727 hours or about 30 days. Add in breaks and that should nearly double. So he started moving right then and there using his GPS to get him in the right direction. He had no clue if what he was doing was smart at all but the farther he got from North Carolina the better. The days that passed were long. Most of the time he just walked. Following the city streets, sneaking onto the side of the high way, or finding tucked away corners to sleep at. The money he had was starting to dwindle. He had around 2k. But when 2k is your entire life savings, for the time being, it certainly goes down. 

Two months later when he finally arrived in Anaheim, he nearly spent 25% of the money on food, clothes, and motel rooms on rainy nights. The August days averaged about 70 degrees, only destined to go lower so he made sure he had jackets and pants because the last thing he needed he needed right then was to get hypothermia. Now that he completed his goal, he was bored for the most part. He remembered back to when he actually enjoyed some peace and quiet. Now he needed something to occupy his mind or else he goes crazy thinking of all the blatant lies and his time in captivity with D-Company and the time he threatened Chandler. That was the most vivid; the words and emotions hitting him all to fast. He hated himself for thinking that was a valid option. Sometimes he wished he was the one on the other side of the screwdriver. 

The days and nights dragged on, each one seeming longer than the one that came before. It left too much time to be with his thoughts. He tried to fill it up with walking to different sleeping spots, asking for change and bartering for supplies. After being out here for so long, Jimmy felt it hard to believe he was once one of the rich and famous. He once would've killed for some time to sort through whatever was on his mind, now it's overwhelming. When night fell, he was scared to fall asleep. Who knows who could try to bother him for any reason.

As the fall months came and went, he settled into a routine. Knowing what stores had nicer employees that sometimes gave him free food, knowing what alleys were 'claimed' by some violent crackhead, stuff like that. He found one alley that he 'claimed' as his. It was in-between two buildings and had a brick wall backing. Attached to one building was a white pipe that water was almost constantly streaming out of. Whether it was clean or not was unknown to him but he hasn't gotten sick yet. Using some bricks and rocks, he built a small gate around it so water doesn't pour out to where he slept. Sometimes the other homeless people would ask for some and despite his normal generosity, he told them only at a price. Most didn't have much to give but some would drop coins in his stereotypical empty can of beans and they'd fill themselves a small bowl or cup and rapidly thank him. 

Though one time, some bigger brute took a whole water bottle full by force. A delirious stroke to the face with a rusty blade shut him up nice and quick. An uneven scar about the size of his finger from the bridge of his nose down to underneath his left eye is still there to this very day. He remembered running up and down the sidewalk once he was certain the other man left begging for someone to help.

"Anyone, please!" But no one seemed to hear. The world scoffed back at him without an ounce of remorse. No one cared about someone like him. He had nothing to contribute anymore. Jimmy could get all the praise the universe had to offer for paying someone's medical bills but when he got into some trouble they turned a blind eye because dare they try to help someone that isn't them. His anger fell to grief as he stumbled back to his alley, blood dripping down his cheek. Putting pressure onto the wound, the October moon shone on his deathbed. He felt like this might just be the nail on the coffin. Maybe he'd lose enough blood that his demise would come. His eyes slowly shut and let his consciousness slip away. Sadly, death never came...

***

December 19th, 2021

"3, 2, 1, dump!" That was the only warning Jimmy got before cold water was poured all over him. His eyes shot open to see four boys. Two of them started laughing and the other two look more annoyed. 

"Cartman were only in California for so long, we can do stupid shit like that at home."

"Aw but it's funny! Your such a buzzkill!"

"No it's not fatass it's potentially deadly considering how cold it is!"

"Hey don't call me fat you fucking jew!"

"Dude shut the hell up let's just get out of here." He was about to say something but the four boys left, bucket abandoned at his feet. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he was too tired to go after them. 

The dry winter air burned at his skin and despite how soaked his jacket was, he wrung it out before curling himself into it. Clouds commuted through the blue morning sky revealing the sun. Originally he was going to go out today and buy a thicker jacket from a Goodwill or something but his desire to get up and do anything had gone down. All he did until the afternoon was eat a breakfast bar and reminisce over the fun times he had with Chris and Chandler. 

By mid-day, his shivering started to slow down and his jacket was only damp now. Jimmy tried to stand up but his muscles wouldn't give. Collapsing back down, he wondered if he broke something. But then wouldn't he have had noticed earlier? His mind felt scattered as he tried to think back to when he could have pulled or strained or broke anything but nothing came. Instead, random non-sensical thoughts filled his mind and he laughed softly to himself.

Hours passed. The shivering had completely stopped and he felt pretty warm. Warm enough to take off his jacket and roll up his ripped jeans even. The entire world felt kind of hazy but Jimmy didn't care. He couldn't afford to care anymore. Twisting and turning he couldn't get any coolness from the ground. He could've sworn it was winter, why was there a heatwave in the middle of winter? Thankfully, something blocked the sun. Opening his eyes, he noticed it wasn't a cloud. It was a person. No three people. He blinked a few times and the image of the people got clearer. 

**Indian.**

_Why was Indian a key detail to him?_

Bhushan

Dawood...

_Oh, that's why._

**A gun.**

Silver and shiny.

** "Oh, shit..." **

Backing into the wall, all consciousness returned to him in absolute fear. These men were clearly from D-Company, Dawood has had enough of his existence.

They wanted him **Dead.**

No words came from their mouths, only short phrases in a language he couldn't comprehend. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide in this small alley. All he could do was pray. Pray they were just playing with him. 

**But thing don't quite work out for the poor ol' homeless man, now do they?**

_Click!_

The gun was loaded. Jimmy braced himself for whatever world of pain he was in for. It seemed to take forever to him until the gun was aimed for him. He had a million things to say but he just couldn't open his mouth and say them. He closed his eyes... and then the gunshot rang...

But he felt nothing?

Opening one eye slightly he noticed the mans arm was twisted and the gun had fallen to the ground. A scream of agony echoed in the dusty alley and a few moments later he was dropped to the ground. Behind him was a boy in a beanie. Jimmy had felt like he had seen him before somewhere but he couldn't quite remember. The beanie-wearing guy offered his hand out to him. Hesitating for a brief moment, the two met eyes. 

_'Let me help you.'_

His eyes seemed to say. As the man started standing again, he grabbed his hand and with pure adrenaline, pulled himself up. Seconds later the two were bolting down the streets, weaving their way in and out of the uncaring crowds. The three D-Company men followed behind. Taking sharp turns and going through more alley's, they had barely lost them. Quickly, the beanie-wearing kid found a Taxi and banged on the door until it was opened. Jimmy and him crawled in, locking the door behind them.

"Who even..." The taxi driver began in confusion.

"Just drive, make a trail, not even the police can follow, I'll give you the address to my hotel room when I'm certain they're gone." The taxi driver turned around, meeting the other man's eyes.

"And why the fuck should I do that?"

"Because someone wants us dead." All of a sudden it clicked. The black hair, the beanie, the slightly slouched stature...

This was Alexis of QuackityHQ.

~~~


	6. The Death of MrBeast - Part 2 ~ Desire Drive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but MrBeast is officially dead."

June 3rd, 2021

When Chris woke up, his Twitter and Instagram notifications were flooded. Not necessarily a new thing just a bit more than usual. Too comfortable to get out of bed, he scrolled through. But Chris just became more confused the farther he went down. Why was everyone saying Jimmy quit YouTube? His top DM was from Chandler and slowly memories from the night before returned. A harsh tone... something sharp... a threat of death... it made his head hurt just thinking about it.

"Watch the newest video." 

That was Chandler's message. But what video was he talking about? The new video wasn't gonna be out until Monday. He went to the channel and in fact, there was a new upload. It was titled The Death of MrBeast. The thumbnail was just a black square. No not clickbait, no emojis, no nothing. Chris hit play. Jimmy was sitting in his office. Instead of a MrBeast hoodie, he was wearing a dark green jacket. His eyes were red and his knees were curled to his chest while sitting in his chair where a camera sat on the desk in front of him. After taking a few deep breaths he started talking.

"I didn't really prepare much for this video because I didn't think I'd have to be making this for at least another few months... I suppose I should just get to the point. I'm gonna be gone for a long time. No, I'm not dying, not yet at least. I'm just quitting YouTube. But not for a reason you'd think. I can't explain why exactly... I'm not in any position to say what happened..." Jimmy stopped for a moment. "Ok, how do I word this... Goddamnit, I need to plan for stuff like this better." He looked up to the ceiling, rubbing his eyes. Chris continued to watch, not liking where this was going.

"Ok here's what you can know. I'm running away. I can't handle the stress anymore! It's impossible to keep my happy facade up when this threat of death is looming over my head. A voice in my head telling me to make better content just to make ad revenue so that threat doesn't come true! That voice is so... so loud and sometimes I can't hear anything like I know it's trying to protect me but..." Jimmy trailed off again and took a few more deep breaths, composing himself once more.

"I'm gonna be all over the map now. You could consider me homeless I suppose. I won't be doing YouTube, I won't be doing social media, and I won't be making contact with anyone who knows anything about me. This includes my fans, my friends, my family, even people who despise me. And if anyone ever sees me, please I beg you. Ignore me. Don't take pictures, don't talk to me, hell don't look me in the eyes no matter how desperate I seem. Just keep walking as if nothing ever happened. Don't tell your friends or anyone that you saw me, just ignore me." Tears started falling down Jimmy's face and panic rose in Chris. There is no way in hell this is clickbait. The internet wouldn't forgive him if that was the case.

"Please if you know what's good for you. Ignore me." He looked up and in an almost unsettling manner met Chris's eyes perfectly. "Even if I'm about to get run over by a FUCKING CAR... ignore me!" His fist slammed onto the table and he put his head down again. "God fucking damnit should'a just stabbed myself with that screwdriver before I went on this whole fucking rant..." Nearly an entire minute passed in the video before he finally looked up and spoke again.

"I just wanna apologize. Mom, I'm sorry I gave you the illusion of success. On YouTube, no one can actually win. The internet is just a cesspool of crackheads and trolls. Chris, I'm sorry for lying to you for so long. I was dying to tell you the truth but if I did could'a died. To my editors and camera people and stuff I guess sorry you don't have a job anymore. And to Chandler... I don't really have an apology for you that's any different from Chris's I just have a message. If you see me, don't ignore me. Instead, go ahead and stab me. I deserve it after what I did to you. I give you my full consent. Consider it assisted suicide since I'm too much of a fucking pussy to do it myself!" That one got Chris. Was Jimmy actually suicidal or... No, no he couldn't be...

"...Oh! And to my fans. My ever-supportive fans. Sorry, you won't be getting content anymore. Y'all can unsubscribe, delete your comments, dislike my videos do whatever. I just have one final message. Spread it across the world! I hate to be the bearer of bad news but MrBeast is officially dead." The video cut. Chris made a dash for the warehouse...

***

Upon entering, cops were investigating the rooms and interviewing some of the editors who for the most part we're pretty confused about what happened. Getting to the main studio more cops were searching for clues on where he might've gone as well as Jake, Jimmy's mom, Garret, and Chandler. 

"Dude thank god you're here, have any idea of where he could've gone?"

"Look Jake I know just as much as you do." Behind him came Marcus and Ty.

"He's nowhere on the property."

"Alright then Ty, let's split around town. You two go take the upper half of town, me and Garret will go to the lower half. Chris, Chandler, go look in the places he spends the most time. His house, Walmart, etc..."

"On it! Come on Chan." He looked over to Chandler. His gaze fixated to the ground looked conflicted.

"Comin'." The two went to Chris's car and he started it up.

"Let's start at his house. I've gotta key."

"Mkay." The better part of the ride was quiet. Chandler stared out the window and Chris focused on driving until he finally decided to break the silence.

"You ok there Chan?"

"Ya, just... confused..."

"Confused about what?"

"The whole Jimmy thing! Like should I even care?"

"Um ya, you should. Why wouldn't you?"

"Well, he threatened me last night. Maybe there is a side of him we didn't know about. An oppressed violent side."

"Chandler, don't go thinking stupid shit like that, Jimmy doesn't have an ounce of violence in his body!"

"You don't know that. He could've snapped at any of us. Who knows what that might've led to. Maybe it's... maybe it's best he's gone, Chris..." A sudden anger-filled Chris and he turned Chandler to face him.

"Hey! Don't **EVER** say anything like that again. Jimmy could very well be dead, you don't wish death upon him do you?"

"Well, when you put it that way it makes me sound like the bad guy."

"Awfully bold of you to assume you aren't..."

"How, how! Explain to me how I'M the cause of this!"

"You're the one who drove him over the edge with questions. Even when I told you 'hey don't push it' you still cornered him. He felt threatened and attacked."

"I listened to you for as long as I could but things were getting too serious. If YOU let me talk to him before it all went downhill maybe he would've been more passive. It's your fault from holding me back, it's Jimmy's fault for letting his emotions bottled up, and it's my fault for trusting your opinion."

"None of this is his fault-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT CHRIS! ...Unless your hiding something from me?"

"Why would I know anything about this situation of his?"

"I don't know I'm giving options here!"

"Well, they aren't good ones." The car went silent. Chandler didn't feel like speaking again so he went back to looking out the window. Chris followed suit. When they arrived, he spoke once more.

"Chandler get up we're here." He got out of the car and wordlessly opened his garage. When it was fully open, he went inside. As Chris called for Jimmy and examined for any clues, Chandler pulled out Jimmy's bike. "What the hell are you doing with that?"

"Leaving."

"What do you mean you're leaving, we've got work to do!"

"I need to think some things through before I decide to help with this. Was he really as good of a person as we thought?"

***

August 14th, 2021

As the months slipped away, Chris had hardly heard from Chandler; only brief statements from his dad that he was alive. But time wasn't going to stop for his return. The world kept spinning and so did the ambitions rooted in Chris's head. When the police gave up their investigation for Jimmy, Chris didn't. Him alongside Garret started a charity/fundraiser type thing called Desire Drive; an organization set to fulfill his and other people's driving desires. While most funds have been going to setting up private investigators worldwide to find any sort of clues, some had been going towards granting other people's 'desires' in having missing children, relatives or friends found.

That particular fall afternoon, Chris wasn't expecting any visitors. Answering some emails and occasionally taking phone calls, he listened to Nirvana music and let his mind get sucked into his work. As dinner rolled close, he heard a knock on his door. 

"Ya come in." Finishing typing something, he looked up a few moments after the door was shut behind... Chandler?

"Oh... what a lovely surprise." In his arms were some bags, like a lot of them. Suitcases, duffel bags, was he bringing his whole room here?

"See you have completely re-themed the entire warehouse."

"Yep, has to fit the new brand." The two went quiet for a brief moment.

"So um where can I sit these down...?"

"Just in that corner, how about I get you something to drink so we can catch up?"

"Sure. Is there still that peppermint tea in Jimmy's office?"

"It should be." They found it and brought it into the lounge to start brewing. The two talked while they waited for it to be done. "What's with the desire for tea all the sudden, tryin' to be all posh and stuff?"

"Was that supposed to be a pun for the charity?"

"Not intentionally, but now I'm gonna bug all of my staff with something similar. Thanks, Chan!" He chuckled lightly and answered his previous question.

"Nah just preparing for all the tea the British are gonna have."

"Oh, you're going to visit England? What for?"

"That's what I stopped by to actually explain." The tea finished and he gave the warm mug to Chandler. The two sat down on a couch in the lounge.

"I saw you brought a lot of bags... are you going away for a while?"

"Well here's the thing... So basically when I went away for those two months I began to sort my options. One of which was from KSI, JJ as I call him. He invited me to join The Sidemen a bit ago but I put the offer on standby as I continued to think. Now after going through all the choices in my head I had settled on one. For the past two weeks, I've been figuring out what the deal would be if I actually joined The Sidemen. JJ told me I'd need to be close to filming spots; that being the UK..." Chris suddenly realized what was going on.

"Are you... are you saying you're leaving for London?"

"Ya... I'll still come to visit though-"

"That's not the point Chandler! You can't just up and leave. What about your family, your friends." In a wave of desperation, Chris grabbed his free hand and met his gaze. "What about me Chan? I can't lose another one of my best friends." Chandler shook his hand away a moment later, a hint of disgust in his face.

"What about you? What about me Chris! I'm gonna do what is most beneficial for me and that's leaving here."

"Oh please, you'd get an even higher paycheck than you did working for Jimmy if you stay. You wouldn't just be another employee, Chan."

"I'm not talking about the pay. I'm talking about what's good for me mentally. I couldn't stand working in place where that... that Beast is the focal point! The moral dilemma that rages in my head every time I think of him is too loud. I need to distance myself from all that, at least until I truly figure out what to think of him. JJ promised me safety from that chaos."

"I can protect you to. We can figure this out together!"

"No Chris, your opinions on him are too strong. I need someone unbiased, just like JJ and The Sidemen. Everyone in this godforsaken town put him up on this pedestal as if some being to be worshipped. Jimmy Donaldson is just as flawed as the rest of them, whether society wants to admit it or not. You've gotta at least understand my perspective right?"

"Yes I do, but moving all the way to London just for a break? Aren't you being excessive."

"I've been wandering for too long, too on the fence about everything. I need something more stable and grounded. Like a house and a job. JJ's gonna offer me that. And I know your gonna say you can to but I don't think I need to explain again why." A pleading look filled him as he took a sip of tea. "Please can't we just not argue? I'm gonna be gone for a long time and I don't want to end this on a bad note." Chris sighed in defeat. There is no winning in a battle of the wills with Chandler Hallow. So they just talked. About where the two have been in their time apart. The hours dissipated like water drops on a hot summer day and all too soon, Chandler had to leave for the airport. 

"Come on Chan, if you wanna back out now would be the time..."

"Christopher Tyson." It was rare Chandler ever used his full name, he must be deadly serious. "There is no way around this. I promise I'll come down to visit during the holidays ok?" Pulling Chris into a hug, tears started trickling down his face.

"I'm gonna miss you, Chan..."

"I'm gonna miss you to." The two stayed like that for a moment. A moment in which Chris reveled in. Chandler didn't have to keep his promise, he could stay in London forever if he wanted to. The situation started to dawn on Chris and he felt sick to his stomach. Chandler let go and the cold air took away the comforting warmth Chandler brought upon him. "I've never been one for goodbyes, so cya later?" Chris tried to say something but the words wouldn't rise up his throat. All he could do was nod his head. Chandler gave a sad smile before turning away, bags in hand, and began making his way out of the warehouse. Panic swiftly reached Chris.

**He was about to lose his other best friend.**

"Please." He whispered. Chandler didn't stop. Chris tried to reach out to stop him but his arm fell short of his hoodie and some uncanny force kept his feet planted on the ground. "Stay..." But he didn't listen. He didn't bother to turn around again leaving Chris all alone in the echoing building full of somber memories dripping in regret. "CHANDLER COME BACK!"

**_But nobody heard his call._ **

~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (2,587 words. Damn gj me. Hopefully, I'm not doing Chris and Chandler any injustice in this chapter. I was scared the focus on Jimmy would get rid of any characterization, especially for Chris. Tell me if I did good on them lol. Later on in the book, there is gonna be another chapter all about Chandler and Chris so be ready for that. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed, cya in the next one!)


	7. The Death of MrBeast - Part 3 ~ Something Horrible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Something horrible is gonna happen today..."

December 18th, 2021, Vid-Con Winter Edition, Friday

"Look I don't know Schlatt, I just feel like something really bad is going to happen today."

"Oh, we're going back to YouTuber names now? Well, then QUACKITY we have a huge meet and greet tomorrow. Most of them are going for you, not me! You can't just abandon Vid-Con now!"

"I'm not abandoning VidCon, but if I want to go to the meet and greet then I should rest up. Feeling really nauseous." The phone line went silent for a moment.

"What do you mean by thinking something bad is going to happen anyway?"

"I don't know to tell you the truth. When me and Nicolas were-"

"Nicolas?"

"Cantu, the voice of Gumball?"

"Oh ya, continue."

"Well, I guess I woke up feeling paranoid and it only got worse. When Nicolas and I were signing stuff and taking pictures I started feeling almost dizzy and all my thoughts were just like Alex, something horrible is gonna happen today."

"Dizzy? Alex your probably sick. It's flu season after all. If you'd like I can drive you to your hotel room."

"No no, it is only a 20-minute walk from here."

"20 minutes? You could-"

"Jonathan. I'll call you if I feel worse ok?"

"And when you get back to your hotel room?"

"Ya, that to."

"Ok... I expect a phone call within the next half hour."

"Ya ya, I will."

"aLeXiS dOn'T sAsS mE-" But he already had hung up. Alex was happy that Jonathan was concerned but he was still getting used to the timezone of Mexico to California change and because of that was quite tired. Too tired to really want to talk to the loud Jonathan Schlatt right this second. Though Jonathan was right, he should see if he could come back later that day. It was only just past noon. As he walked down the steps of the convention center, he thought up some stories to tell during the next episode of The Quack House. The Quack House was a podcast consisting of himself, Aksel, Hoover, Jonathan, Wilbur Soot, Nicolas Cantu, and ConnorEatsPants and the next episode was gonna be about VidCon. Down the sidewalks, he moved. Random moments filled his mind; beating Nicolas at Uno, TheOdd1'sOut giving him a tour of VidCon, getting into a fake duel with Technoblade...

A turn down the street made his stomach sink. Picking up his walking pace, he hoped to get back before he might throw up. Putting his hand to his forehead, he didn't feel warm, but maybe it was because of how cold out it was. As he passed between Whole Foods and a dispensary, a shiver fell down his spine. Alex didn't know why exactly he felt it so prominently. It wasn't from the cold, it was from... something uncanny. The feeling was like nothing he had ever felt before. What could've been only milliseconds later, he heard an all too familiar sound.

A gun was loaded behind him.

He rapidly turned around, panic consuming his entire being. But the gun wasn't aimed at him. It was aimed at an alleyway. The three men blocking it off haven't seen him so he decided to protect whoever was on the other side. All Alex could hope for was that he was on the right side of things. Grabbing the arm of the guy with the gun, he twisted it back and could almost hear the muscles pull and snap, only letting go when the gun dropped to the ground and the arm itself was practically deemed useless and broken. A scream filled the alley and Alex let him drop the ground. He finally got a view of who he had saved. He appeared homeless, that's all he could get from a one-second glance, but why these people were trying to kill him was beyond Alex. He extended his hand out to him and doubt glazed his glare. But as soon as the other two men left their shock and prepared to attack both of them, he grabbed it and pulled himself up before giving chase.

They kept a decent pace away from their attackers and Alex kept a lookout for a cab or a bus they could use to get out of there quickly. Weaving in and out the streets and sidewalks, they slowly lost sight of the other two and he found a taxi dropping someone off. When they made it over and hopped in. The driver was rightfully accused as the exhausted pair finally got a moment to relax.

"Who even..." But Alex didn't let her finish.

"Just drive, make a trail, not even the police can follow, I'll give you the address to my hotel room when I'm certain they're gone." The taxi driver turned around, looking quite annoyed at the two's sudden intrusion. 

"And why the fuck should I do that?"

"Because someone wants us dead." She sighed and locked the doors.

The car started up and Alex got a moment to examine who he saved. His blue eyes were faded of life and fear kept him backed up against the taxi wall. His tattered clothes did nothing to protect his withering frame. Bone outlines could be seen against his skin and he gave him a sympathetic look.

"You can come closer, I won't hurt you."

"I... I know that Alex. It's just instinct." For a split second, he questioned how he knew his name but remembered he was a YouTuber.

"Oh, are you a fan?"

"No, just an old acquaintance." Looking him up and down in an attempt to ring any bells, KSI's name rang in his head. But why him? This clearly isn't KSI...

_"Give me another minute KSI's gonna challenge me to a boxing match."_

_"Can you sing us a song about how KSI is obsessed with eating ass?"_

_"KSI, I wanted to bang two birds with one stone! ...That's not how the metaphor works."_

_"The only thing that has made me laugh so far is KSI!"_

Oh, that's why.

"Jimmy, is this where you've been?"

"Some of the time." Alex took a moment to think about what he just confirmed. He has been homeless for the better part of the year. God knows how much pain and suffering had become the seems connecting from then and now. "Can I get out now, I think we're far enough away from them."

"Horrible idea, we need to know they are completely out of the city, hell out of the state would be better. Now come on, actually, put your seat- ...um Jimmy do you realize how cold you are?" 

"I'm actually burning up... not really cold at all..."

"Nooooo, you are freezing to the touch, how long have you been in the cold weather like this?"

"Hard to say really, but some kids poured cold water on me as a prank. I was really cold at first but then I felt numb and then the shivering stopped and I felt really hot. I haven't been able to cool off all afternoon. I tried taking off some layers but it hasn't done shit."

"Coldwater, cold windy weather, feeling warm and numb... " The taxi driver chimed in. "You probably have hypothermia."

"Hypothermia, doesn't that kill people?"

"It can be depending on the severity. If he's been sitting outside for several hours drenched in cold water it probably is at least moderate now. If you'd like you can take his temperature, I have one of those new iPhone 13's that has a built-in thermometer." 

"Oh ya, that'd be nice." She turned it on and Alex gave it to Jimmy to use.

"Look I don't really see why I need to be doing this..." His hand started to shake and the phone dropped down but Alex caught it and put it back to his forehead.

"You can't even hold the phone and I know muscle weakness is part of hypothermia. It might feel like you aren't cold but your skin is like ice!" The phone beeped and he checked what the end temperature was. Alex's eyes widened. "82.4... 82 point fucking 4! The average internal temperature is like 97 or something."

"So?"

"So! We need to like get you to a hospital-"

"NO! No, no, no, no... no hospital. I can't afford those kinds of those bills."

"82.4 is edging severe. If he passes out, take him to the hospital." The taxi driver responded, taking the phone back.

"Alright then Jimmy, just stay awake for me." He nodded lightly. Alex gave him the address and about 10 minutes later they pulled into the valet. Slowing down the car, the driver gave him a bit more advice.

"Until he has a more stable temperature, don't let him shower. He's gonna need the layers, especially in a hotel. If the room is cold, turn on the shower anyway and have him sit on some blankets in there with the steam for as long as he can handle. Maybe bring some warm food. Not burning hot liquids though."

"How do you know so much about hypothermia treatment?"

"Grew up in Alaska. That place is literally an icebox."

"Well, thanks for being understanding with this whole thing."

"Sure, hope you don't get killed!"

"...All we CAN do is hope." Getting out he went to Jimmy's side.

"Think you can walk?"

"Of course I can fucking walk..." The second he finished that, he already stumbled down but Alex pulled him back upright. Jimmy let all of his weight fall onto him. Making a dash through the cold, Alex wrapped his jacket around him. "I don't-"

"Yes, yes you do. Just focus on staying awake right now ok?" 

"M'kay..." The hotel door snapped shut behind them...

~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I had to do so much research for this my god. I wanted the hypothermia to be as accurate as possible. Also a question, should I do the next chapter in Alex or Jimmy's POV. It's going to follow the events that happen immediately after this chapter. Leave a comment with who you think is best for this. Cya guys in the next one :D)


	8. This Remedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Of course, Alex didn't really know what he's gotten himself into."

Taking the advice the taxi driver gave him to heart, Alex began the process of attempting to warm him up. With Alex helping Jimmy stand, he managed to begrudgingly put on sweatpants and a much thicker jacket. Next, he needed to set up a comfortable spot to settle down in. Turning the pullout couch into a bed, he covered the whole thing in a sheet which he put in a heater earlier. He propped pillows up so he wasn't more tempted to fall asleep and began wrapping blankets over him leaving nothing but his face showing. 

"I don't think this is entirely necessary..."

"Ya it is, I don't have hospital-grade things to warm you up with so I'm going extreme with what I DO have. I'm gonna order some Panera what do you want?"

"I dunno, you don't have to get me anything..."

"I'm going to get you something, here's the soup menu pick what looks good."

"Baked potato soup, what in tarnation?"

"Want that?"

"Sure I guess..."

"I'm going to order breakfast stuff to, what do you want for that?"

"Bacon... egg... cheese..."

"The sandwich?"

"Mhm," Alex ordered himself cinnamon rolls, a grilled cheese, and a Pepsi.

"Like any teas or warm drinks?"

"Peppermint tea...? I kept some in my office."

"I'll order that then." When the order was done, Alex paid for it and wrote out a shortlist of items to get while he was out. A space heater and a thermometer being at the top while more peppermint teabags and some earmuffs were at the bottom. "Ok, I'm going to pick up the food and buy a couple of things. If I'm fast enough I should be back in twenty minutes. Don't try to get up and move and don't fall asleep either. Do you somehow still have a working charged phone?"

"Mhm... but it's like falling apart..."

"Perfect!" He turned it fully on, dialed his number in but didn't press call. "If you need anything at all, all you gotta do is press the call button and I'll come straight back. For any reason. You don't even have to talk, I just need that phone call ok?" He nodded and stared blankly off at the TV now playing Stanford and Son. Hopefully, he actually understood what he said. Leaving was probably the stupidest idea he has had within his entire lifespan but he needed at least a few things. Putting the phone in his grasp, Alex asked if Jimmy needed anything else before he called a taxi and left. Somehow, the taxi driver was the same before. Sitting down in the front this time, she quickly struck up a conversation.

"Oh your back, he's ok right?"

"Kind of. I'm going to pick up some food and some stuff to help warm him up."

"In his condition that is a god awful idea."

"Ya, I know that. I set him up with a phone to call me if he needs me to come back for any reason."

"What are you going to get anyway? Maybe you could buy the stuff and I could pick up the food then come grab you again."

"I need to buy a space heater, a thermometer, a footwarmer, some earmuffs, a couple of things of clothes, and some peppermint tea bags."

"Easy enough. I'll drop you off at Target and I could get the food."

"That would be great actually. I already ordered and paid for it. Just go to Panera and pick up the bag that says, Alex." She nodded and turned on the radio.

It didn't take long for him to go mentally through his checklist so his mind wandered back to Jimmy. How did he get there? How did he get in such a situation? Alex did in fact see the video from way back when. At first, he thought it was a skit but his mental deterioration throughout and the lack of editing proved otherwise. It gave him a real reality check. YouTuber's are just as vulnerable as other celebrities. Whatever happened completely broke his world and it pained Alex to believe that could very well happen to him. Someone, something psychotic could toy with his life and the lives of his loved ones. It scared him back then, made him re-think just for a moment. But now actually being face to face with Jimmy, it made him mad. He wanted to find whoever pushed him down like that and make them regret they were ever born. His fist clenched, turning ivory in his rage. 

"Um, Alex are you ok...?" He scoffed a reply.

"Ya, just fine..."

***

"Your total will be 52.95." Pulling out his credit card, he swiped it and mindlessly entered his pin. He didn't even mutter a thank you as he left, feet moving at a swift pace towards the exit. The taxi wasn't there yet so he impatiently waited until he heard his phone ring. Alex's heart skipped a beat, an uncanny agony clawing at his feet, threatening to consume if that car didn't arrive soon. He answered.

"ALEXIS YOU HAVEN'T PICKEN UP ANY OF MY-" The voice, despite its tone immediately brought comfort to his worried mind. Alex cut him off.

"Oh, it's just you Jonathan thank god..."

"Why, who did you think I was?"

"Nothing don't worry about it. Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to make it tomorrow."

"Alex..."

"I still feel awful. Um threw upright when I got back to my hotel and then crashed asleep. I might be able to make it to Disney day." He felt horrible lying right to his face... or ears... but he had to do what he had to do. He couldn't just tell him 'oh I found MrBeast he's suffering from hypothermia and has been homeless for half a year.' The taxi pulled up and Alex got in. 

"Alright alright. How about I come over and visit tonight?"

"Huh NO!"

"Why not?"

"...I'm contagious. Like really contagious. I'd probably spread whatever I have to all of VidCon if you came by."

"Before we leave California I will be seeing you at some point understand."

"Yes, Jon-" Alex noticed another call coming in as the car started driving again, it was from Jimmy. "Fuck um... I'm going to have to call you back..."

"Wait don't-" But Alex had already picked up.

"Jimmy are you ok? Can you hear me?"

"..." He didn't reply. 

"Jimmy answer me!"

"I'ma... I'ma sleep..."

"No... no no no no Jimmy do not do that. I'll be back in 10 minutes can you hang on a bit longer?"

"Dunno..."

"Please try ok?"

"..."

"Jimmy?"

"..."

"PLEASE STAY AWAKE COME ON!" He yelled into the phone. But it was too late, he had already passed out.

"Is he ok?" The taxi driver asked.

"NO, HE FUCKING ISN'T DRIVE FASTER!" She picked up speed. Alex tried to get her to do that thing in the movies when they are being chased by the bad guy and they weave in and out of traffic at like 90 miles an hour but she didn't feel like getting a speeding ticket so she didn't comply, further annoying him. Actually following traffic safety laws when your friend could be dying in your hotel room? Absurd, unheard of! The hotel was in sight and Alex almost considered jumping out and booking it back but it was too cold for that. He gave most of his layers to Jimmy already. When they pulled up to the valet, he told her thank you and made a dash to his floor. The elevator would take to long so he ran up the emergency stairs, found his room on the second floor and rapidly swiped his card. The second he entered, he dropped all of his bags to the ground and made it to Jimmy's side. "Come on please wake up." Alex shook at him. He noticed some of the blankets had fallen off and his skin felt slightly colder. When Jimmy's eyes wouldn't open, Alex froze for a moment and checked his pulse. Thankfully still existent. Suddenly he twitched slightly. "Jimmy...?"

"...hm..?" No words were uttered but the slight use of his vocal cords gave Alex more confidence.

"Can you open your eyes?" A few seconds later, they blinked half-open. "Oh thank god! I thought you..." he trailed off and just pulled him to a hug. Jimmy tensed at first but before Alex could let go, he relaxed and went closer to Alex. His shivering has begun to come back meaning at the least his internal temperature is getting better. "Do you want food or are you not hungry?"

"A bit..." 

"I'll scoop your out a small portion then." After re-wrapping him now with all the new stuff he bought, he started up the space heater and prepared a smaller bowl of the soup. As much as both of them didn't really want to, Alex ended up being the one to spoon-feed him most of the soup as Jimmy's hands were to shaky to do more than hold bowl. When finished, he put the bowl aside and turned the TV to some Family Guy. 

"Can I go back to sleep?" Jimmy asked between chattering teeth.

"Only if your temperature has gone up enough." Pulling out the thermometer, he hoped it was accurate enough and he wouldn't just die in his sleep or something. Ya Alex was a pretty negative person. 86.9. If this was any other scenario, he'd be making every 69 joke in the book.

"You've gone up."

"So...?"

"Ya sure, you better wake up though." Alex began getting off from the pullout couch but he felt a slight tugging at his arm.

"Stay..." 

"Your delirious, I shouldn't."

"Please?" He sighed and sat back down, letting Jimmy curl up by his side, immediately warming up a tad at the contact. A small smile crossed his face for the first time since he saw him in that alley. This, in turn, made Alex happy. He'd survive this, Jimmy was a fighter.

** Of course, Alex didn't really know what he had gotten himself into. **

~~~


	9. The Devil's After Both of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON I SHOULDN'T DIE AT THEIR HANDS JUST TO MAKE EVERYONE'S LIVES EASIER! I'M NOTHING BUT A FUCKING BURDEN! JUST LET ME GO ALEX!"

December 19th, 2021

_It was dark._

_So damn dark._

_Where's a_ _lightswitch_ _?_

_Click!_

_Light came._

_It was dim and revealed shadow figures with red eyes._

_"Chris... Chandler?" Two more appeared. "Jake, Garret, you gotta help! I can't move."_

_The chains that attached him to a chair went tighter._

_"Don't just stand there, do something!" Something did happen. A cap on his head, cool metal against his forehead._

_**"** _ _**Urer** _ __ _**va** _ __ _**guvf** _ __ _**xvatqbz** _ _**, jr** _ _**ner** _ __ _**lbhe** _ __ _**ybeq** _ _**jr** _ _**beqre** _ __ _**lbh** _ _**gb** _ _**pbjre** _ __ _**naq** _ __ _**cenl** _ _**!"** _

_Before he could decipher, waves of pain filled his mind. Screams and chants and pain-filled his mind. But the worst part is that they stood. Jake held the shaking machine to his head, Garret turned up the voltage, and the other two smiled. Chandler and Chris almost seemed to be laughing at his agony._

**_"_ ** **_Fhssre_ ** **_gur_ ** **_jbefg_ ** **** **_vf_ ** **** **_lrg_ ** **_gb_ ** **_pbzr_ ** **_!"_ **

_He wanted this to end, he tried to beg them to stop but no one heard. He couldn't trust anyone. Not even his friends. He was put on this Earth to suffer. He was going to die alone, the future seemed so close. But why he wanted to be at that point now was a question he couldn't answer._

**_"_ ** **_Frg_ ** **** **_lbhefrys_ ** **** **_serr_ ** **** **_Wvzzl_ ** **_, ab bar_ ** **_ryfr_ ** **** **_jvyy_ ** **** **_qb_ ** **** **_vg_ ** **** **_sbe_ ** **** **_lbh_ ** **_."_ **

"Jimmy!" He sat upright in a panic looking around as to where he was. Nothing was attached to his head, no more pain. At least for the moment. He was confused as to why he wasn't outside. Why was he inside? Did someone find him? Did Dawood- "Jimmy are you ok?" He turned the voice. Last night's thoughts slowly trickled in. He was really hot then really cold and someone was there. This must be him.

"...Who are you again?"

"Alex... Quackity?" Memories glazed in laughter and happiness came at the sight of 'Alex'. Memories of a simpler time when he could collab with people.

"...Oh ya." Catching his breath, he leaned back feeling slightly dizzy.

"What happened in that nightmare... you seemed really freaked out."

"Nothin' important." Sighing, Alex made the smart choice to let it be for now.

"Can I take your temperature again?"

"Huh why?"

"You had hypothermia last night."

"Really?"

"Ya, you don't remember?"

"Not too much, I guess I remember being really cold for some time."

"Mhm, that's the hypothermia part. I need to make sure you've actually gone up and you don't need to go to a hospital. Thankfully at contact, your skin isn't freezing anymore and you woke up... somewhat normally." Jimmy nodded and found that he was at 93.4

"Good, you're getting there. You should stay under the blankets though today. Are you hungry at all?"

"Ya definitely, what do you have?"

"You ordered what you wanted for breakfast last night, do you remember what that is?"

"Nope, not at all!"

"Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Want it warmed up?"

"Mhm." Not paying attention much, he heard the beeping of the microwave and the sound of it running before beeping again. He put the sandwich in front of him to which Jimmy dug into it. Alex opened the blinds and sat down next to him, cinnamon roll in hand. As more memories played through his mind, Jimmy became more confused. "Wait am I in your apartment?"

"...No... I live in a house in Mexico. You're in a hotel room in California."

"What are you doing in California?"

"Vid-Con."

"...It's July?" Alex laughed a bit.

"It's December. They are holding a winter edition since a good 15 creators didn't show. This round they did much better. The Quack House ended up being one of the focal groups!"

"The Quack House?"

"Ya a podcast me and some friends run. Maybe you could be a guest on it soon."

"No can do, can't bring attention to me."

"Oh ya... that whole thing. Um, what exactly happened?"

"It's a long story."

"Does it have something to do with those guys trying to kill you last night?"

"What guys trying to-" All of a sudden, it clicked for him. "Oh god, Alex what guys? Did they look Indian?"

"You think I was paying attention to that?"

"Shit I gotta get out of here! Me just being here puts you in danger."

"I can protect you. Your physically weak right now and I've dealt with violent thugs before. It can't be that bad!"

"Um ya, it CAN be."

"Like how bad?"

"Like Indian mafia bad."

"How the hell did you get intertwined with the mafia?"

"I didn't choose to! They were the ones who kidnapped and blackmailed me!"

"When did that even happen?"

"You know the first 'break' I took. 3 weeks no content? That was when I was taken. But they haven't bothered me much until now. Once I was returned, I just quietly sent them the ad revenue they wanted and didn't get violent until... now?"

"I'm so confused... the Indian mafia kidnapped you for some of your ad revenue?"

"That's the simple answer. Please don't tell anyone, I can't risk anyone getting hurt."

"I won't for right now. But later that's something we're going to need to address."

"You know I can't be here much longer Alex."

"Please just trust me, we can figure this out ok?" Jimmy sighed and leaned back into the couch.

***

The morning and early afternoon was pretty easy. Alex warded off concerned phone calls from Schlatt and others while Jimmy got himself more put together. He finally got around to showering now that his internal temperature was almost stable again and put on clean, comfortable clothes. At around 1-ish, the pair were back on the couch, watching Joker and munching at some Skittles he bought a few days back. 

"Can I go back to sleep?"

"You don't even have to ask. I'm sure your still pretty worn out." Jimmy put his pillows down to try to sleep and Alex let his mind wander. Never in a million years did he expect that he'd find Jimmy in such a state. Only so long ago was he watching him abuse his Discord Got's Talent admin powers. Now here he was, fearful for his life, scared of his surroundings, and tense in his sleep. Even in what should be a relaxing time away from his conscious thoughts, Jimmy still felt like he couldn't let his guard down. It terrified Alex to think of the possibilities of what exactly happened. Pushing every limitless thought back into the depths of his mind, he found his hand stroking through Jimmy's hair before he knew what he was doing. About to retract his hand back, Alex noticed that he relaxed at the contact and the strain in his muscles began to fade as his breathing became more and more regular. Whatever was plaguing Jimmy's mind was unbeknownst to Alex but his desire to protect him from it grew stronger and stronger with every odd, doubt-driven mannerism he saw. He wasn't able to save his friend Jack from himself but somehow he managed to pull something from that traumatic experience. What he wasn't able to give Jack through long-distance, he can give to Jimmy. And even if all he can do is try, it still meant the world to Alex that he didn't have to watch another good friend of his crumble without putting up a fight...

***

When Jimmy's eyes blinked open once more, it was dark outside. The street lights were on and reflecting in through the window. Occasionally he could hear the sound of cars speeding through the night, creating strong winds in their wake. Adjusting to the bright, warm light emitting from the TV, he began to sit up slowly but hit his head. Looking up, he noticed Alex's arm above him and dodged it when sitting up again. Once on his feet, he began looking for something to eat. Turning on a bit of light, he checked the minifridge and cabinets. He found some Fruit Loops but wasn't sure if he was allowed to eat it, so he left it abandoned on the counter.

"Hm...?" Spinning around swiftly at the sound, his spiked heart rate quickly calmed at it just being Alex. "Oh... mornin'..."

"No, it's nighttime."

"Oh ya it's dark..." Rubbing at his eyes, Alex sat up and opened his phone. "Nope I was right, it's like 5 in the morning."

"Really? I slept that late?"

"I was going to wake you up for dinner but you looked so peaceful so I didn't bother. No nightmares right?"

"Thankfully no." Alex unmuted the TV but kept the audio low.

 _"...But on a higher note, the Desire Drive organization has been running stronger than ever. Just last night, 13-year-old twins Mason and Marilyn have reunited with their parents after 7 weeks apart. Here with us is founder Christopher Tyson on the 5th family reunion since Desire Drive's creation back in June."_ Jimmy tried ignoring the name by turning back to the counter.

"Hey, Alex?"

"Ya?"

"Can I have these Fruit Loops?"

"Sure thing, I'll get ya something better to eat later. But I will be gone later today."

"Huh why?" 

"Disney day for VidCon YouTuber's. I can't let my fans down for a second time. I'll be back at the hotel tonight though."

"Don't you need to check out by like 12 or somethin'?"

"Oh ya... um, we'll deal with that later." Sitting back down next to Alex, he picked at the Fruit Loops and looked back up to the TV. Sadly the interview wasn't quite over.

 _"...And like I do with all my interviews, I just need to say that wherever you may be Jimmy..."_ He turned to face the camera. It was uncanny how directly their eyes aligned as if he knew exactly where he was seated in correlation to the screen. _"...we will always be looking for you. We miss you and life just isn't the same without you around..."_ The camera cut back to the anchors but Jimmy still felt slightly shaken. What's Chris doing looking for him? He made it abundantly clear he didn't want to be found.

"You ok there?"

"Just peachy..." Pulling out a Fruit Loop, he ate it.

"...Chris really does care Jimmy. He'd never stop trying to save you even if it killed him."

"But they shouldn't care. I told them not to look for me!"

"I know that... you made it sickeningly clear... But you know, your going to have to reunite at some point with your friends and family. As long as they have the slightest hopes that you're alive, they won't let go of their dreams."

"I ran away for a reason Alex, you think I'm just going to go back to them and pretend nothing ever happened like the first time? Having to bottle up my emotions about my time in captivity is exactly why I left!"

"You can't run forever. Whether your break down is cushioned by people who care about you or not, it'll still happen. That's just the way of life."

"I'll be dead before I 'break down' as you put it."

"No, you won't. I'm taking you back to North Carolina tonight." Jimmy's eyes widened and he stood up fast.

"Excuse me? When did YOU get to make that choice?" Alex followed suit, now meeting the other's gaze.

"I'm doing what's right for you. As much as I'd love to have you, I know you can't come back with me to Mexico."

"When did I ever say I was going with you to Mexico!"

"Ok, then where did you think you were going next?"

"Back onto the streets...?"

"No way in HELL are you going back out there with those people wanting you dead!"

"Take me back, go ahead! But if they're smart enough, they'll throw me out again when they finally stop being so blind and realize how much of a burden I am." Alex took a moment to process that.

"Jimmy don't EVER say that!"

"If I was actually useful I would've been strong enough to stand up to Dawood. I would've told him to go fuck himself and call the cops! But I'm not! I couldn't do it and just let them get away that kind of torture!"

"You aren't a burden Jimmy. If you were I would've left you in that alley to die and I'd run away!"

"But I am Alex! I've been doing nothing but leeching off other people's talent and good ideas for the better part of my life. Ever looked closely at what I do? All I did on YouTube was make stupid narrations about what's going on right in front of the viewer and give the winner money. Anyone can do that Alex. My mere existence has apparently been weighing Chris down for the past 6 months. ...THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON I SHOULDN'T DIE AT THEIR HANDS JUST TO MAKE EVERYONE'S LIVES EASIER! I'M NOTHING BUT A FUCKING BURDEN! JUST LET ME GO ALEX!" Tears were falling out of his eyes and he was shaking, as if on the verge of a panic attack. Alex looked back shocked at what he just witnessed. "I should be going..."

"Jimmy wait!" But he didn't bother to turn back. Going straight for the door. He felt Alex grab onto his jacket but he ignored him. Twisting the doorknob, he didn't expect anyone to be waiting on the other side. But there was someone...

**Indian.**

Panic glistened in his eyes and he let Alex begin pulling him back. "We're gonna have to- RUN!" He nodded and rushed back into the room. Three or four men followed and Alex grabbed a lamp and shattered it to slow their pace. Following behind, Alex also opened the window with a quick tug at the lock.

"What the- ARE YOU INSANE?"

"Do you trust me?"

"...Yes!"

"Then JUMP!" Grabbing his hand before he could begin to comprehend, he was out in the open cool California air once more. His hand disconnected from Alex's and all of the sudden Jimmy was flying. Weightlessness consumed his being and for a split second, Jimmy felt like a God, walking on thin air. The tranquility of nothingness was peaceful and put his worrying thoughts at ease. 

**Of course, gravity caught up to him.**

~~~


	10. 'Trust Me' Is A Hypocritical Statement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't want to be saved, Alex, I want to be set free."

When Jimmy fell to the ground, he couldn't stay balanced and ended up falling back to the ground.

"Ow shoot my feet!" When Alex fell though, he managed to do it properly. Going in with his feet and rolling instead of falling.

"Jesus, you don't know how to jump out a window correctly?"

"No, I fucking don't why would I! I think I broke an ankle."

"Here get on my back, I'll get us out of here." Without many options left, Jimmy did so and Alex began speeding ahead. The wind blew right into Jimmy's face making him keep his eyes at a squint. Weaving in and out of the few passing cars on the road, they only seemed to get further from the men chasing them. They ran for a good five minutes before whatever adrenaline Alex had faded. Putting him down Jimmy held back a quiet cry at the pressure in his foot. "Which one is hurting you?"

"My right foot I think... your left."

"Here sit down. I'm not much of a medical expert but I'll see what I can do." Collapsing onto the sidewalk, Alex kneeled down to his level and picked up the foot. "...Well, you have an ankle there for starters. It's not completely gone."

"No shit sherlock tell me something I don't know."

"Does this hurt?" Before Jimmy could comprehend, Alex started moving his ankle.

"Mhm ya please stop." Taking in a deep breath, his ankle was dropped back down.

"The bone feels pretty similar to how my own is so I don't think it's broken. It's probably just twisted or sprain."

"Oh thank god ok. It'll heal naturally." 

"We're about a 15-minute walk from Disney, you put your weight on me but I think if we keep a good pace we can get there and see about having one of the doctors take a look at it. Probably you'll just need some ice and bandages."

"Ok fine... here help me up." Jimmy reluctantly allowed Alex to act as basically a crutch for him. Leaning against him, Jimmy wondered when was the last time he had positive human contact. Before finding Alex, it was probably six months ago, when he still lived in a house with four walls and a roof and had friends who to some degree cared about him. Part of him longed for that kind of affection again. Of course, it was weird but all he wanted was that kind of security. But as always, he shoved it into the depths of his mind. He couldn't depend on anyone else. Once he could walk on both feet again he was gone. He wasn't about to threaten his friend's safety for something as minuscule as his own selfish desires.

"Um, you ok there... you seemed to zone out for a minute there?"

"Ya... just thinking..."

***

"Well if your going to be in the parks still I can give you crutches or a wheelchair to use..." Jimmy felt as if things were going a bit far. His foot, now being held up, had ice bags wrapped around it. On his lap was Alex's phone, which was playing one of the Discord's Got Talent episodes. Good memories. But Jimmy's mind wasn't there, it was panicking at being in such a vulnerable state. While Alex and the nurse talked about suitable options for a day in the theme park, he felt trapped. Like walls were closing in on him. 

"Alright, we're done, we've got about two hours to kill till park opening. Wanna wait in here?"

"No... I feel like I can't breathe in here. Too claustrophobic."

"Ok, we can wait by the gates then. You're gonna have to use crutches though."

"I don't, I can walk just fine!" Standing up, only a slight twinge of pain coursed through his leg when he put pressure on it. 

"Jimmy don't do that! That'll just hurt it more." Immediately grabbing onto him, the nurse handed the crutches to which Jimmy started using them. After leaving the building, he took a deep breath of the cool morning air, feeling relieved that the sickly feeling had left him. A few minutes later, the pair were back at the front gates. Silence fell between them and Jimmy fixated his gaze to the flickering lights just ahead of him. Alex finally broke it, his tone quieter and calmer then it was before.

"I bought an extra ticket when I got mine for Disney under the impression I was going to give it away to a fan. But unless if you wanna get out of town early I can use it on you." 

"Mhm..."

"...Your gonna use it as a way to get out of here aren't you?" Jimmy decided it was useless to lie. He saw to much of Chandler's uncanny intuition in him.

"I mean you're not wrong..."

"Why are you so dead-set on isolating yourself from other people? You'll never be able to heal from whatever trauma that happened without a little help."

"What makes you assume it's some sort of trauma. Maybe I just don't like people anymore."

"I might've only done collabs you with twice but I know you too well, you thrive off of human interaction. Besides, I've seen that look you have in your eyes before, hell I've had it myself. It's the look of someone who's in complete fear of what's going to happen next." Alex noticed Jimmy subconsciously attempt to erase it, but to little avail.

"I don't want anyone else intertwined in my situation, I'm sure if you were in my position, you wouldn't either. I let myself be intimidated by them and now I face the consequences-"

"-There the Indian mafia, no shit you'd be intimidated by them." Alex quickly dropped the edge in his tone when feeling the slightest tense from the other's small frame that was leaning a bit on his side.

"Please just let me go, it'll make things easier for both of us." In a sudden feeling of desperation, Alex grabbed Jimmy's hands and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Let me save you. I'm not just going to watch you suffer like this."

"I don't want to be saved Alex... I want to be set free."

"Oh my god, Quackity!!!" The two looked up to a squealing 12-year-old. Her eyes were lit up in the presence of him as if she encountered God. If the conversation just before wasn't so serious, he'd probably have taken this as a small chance to boost his ego but all he did was quietly laugh.

"Heh, yep that's me." Trying to process words, the bubbling fans rapidly explained her situation, to which Alex half-heartedly listened.

"I can't believe your actually here the early! I was gonna just wait until you showed up so I can catch you but this is so much easier. My lazy fat bitch of a mom wouldn't have even left the parking lot yet!" Ignoring the girl's rude front, Alex quickly offered to sign something and get a photo. The girl accepted and once finished, looked down to Jimmy who was trying his best to hide his face.

"Who's he?"

"My friend... he's... er... mute! He's mute!" She suddenly gasped.

"Wait is he a YouTuber to?" Before either could react, she pulled the hood part up revealing his scarred face.

"What the hell kid you don't just do that to people!" The girl didn't know how to react and instead ignored him. Jimmy had already pulled the hood back down.

"Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"No you haven't, he doesn't have an online persona."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm completely sure. I think you should go find your mom."

"Your right, more YouTuber's to stalk. Karen where the hell are you!" Running off, Alex took a few breaths before turning back to Jimmy, soured by the fan's mean personality. 

"Hey Jimmy, you o- Woah hey! Just breathe, look at me she's gone!" Upon seeing him, he noticed his trembling and knees curled to his chest. Slowly pulling up the hood, he did nothing to stop Alex and revealed his red face, tears beginning to trickle down.

"Sh-she saw my face Alex! What... what if she reco-recognizes me later an-and posts ab-about it... or... or sends a t-tip to the police or Desire Drive!"

"I don't think she'll be smart enough to try contacting anyone about it. At worst she remembers who you are and makes a Reddit post with little evidence backing up her findings."

"B...but what if someone else re-reports it to them!"

"Look, you've been living on the streets for like 6 months and you haven't been recognized, I think you'll be fine. Just... just breathe ok." After a few shaky breaths, Jimmy leaned on his side again and the panic died down. That's when Jimmy realized something. 

He was starting to rely on Alex.

And the thought absolutely horrified him. 

~~~


	11. S.O.S ~ Source of Savagery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh, you've fucked up now!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of a garbage chapter but like at least I updated. The last chapter is the grand finale (there is still a few more chapters but like that's just the fallout)

Upon rushing through Main Street, the two only had so much time to do some rides so they quickly planned.

"Space Mountain?" 

"Sure...?" The lines weren't too long as everyone went to the Star Wars area which got a recent update. Speeding through, it only took a good 5 minutes to get on and they continued at a good pace for an hour, working up to ToonTown, Fantasyland, Galaxy Edge, and Adventureland. Sitting down in one of the quick restaurants, Alex planned as Jimmy quickly ate a bread bowl.

"So we have about 40 minutes until we need to be out of here if we wanna get back to the hotel in time to check out. We can go on Big Thunder Mountain but that would be all we have time for. I can get an Uber to pick us up in 25 minutes so we have extra time when we get back to pack up our things. I'm also going to need a rental car to get you back to North Carolina and- OH SHIT MY FLIGHT! I GOTTA CANCEL THAT! Can I get refunded with this late of notice?"

"I don't think so... You should try though."

"I will on the drive back. For now, just finish your bread bowl." While he picked at it, Alex went onto his phone. Several worried texts from his friends had flooded his iPhone and he responded to Jonathan. 

_"Yes... I'm in the parks, I'm feeling better but I'm about to leave. We'll see each other again in like February anyway."_

He quickly got a response.

_"I wanna see you before you leave, where are you?"_

Looking back over to Jimmy, he wasn't paying attention to him anymore, so he replied to him.

_"Sure, I can meet you by the gates in like 15 minutes. Don't hold me up I gotta go my flight will be here soon."_

Alex turned off his phone and noticed he was already almost done.

"Hey, Jimmy?"

"Ya?"

"Jonathan wants to see me before we leave. I'll just say hi by the gates then we'll go."

"How is he not going to question the stranger next to you?"

"You can just follow behind at a distance or something I don't know. There are so many people here that there is no way he'll catch on."

"Ok fine." Taking one last bite, he went to throw away his garbage. Alex put his phone back in his pocket and caught up to him.

"Wanna do Big Thunder still?"

"Sure." Swinging the restaurant doors open, the faint sound of country music echoed in the air. Readjusting his crutches, Jimmy attempted to keep a good pace. As a parade became slightly visible in the distance, he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. He looked over to Alex but it wasn't him holding him, both of his hands were by his side.

"Uh... Alex...?" Turning to face him, his eyes quickly widened. Jimmy escaped the persons grasp and did the same.

"Dawood...?" Meeting the man's eyes, fear immediately filled him. He was the head honcho of D-Company. With just a whisk of his hand, everyone in Disney could be dead before his feet. He could hurt anyone here. But Jimmy couldn't let him. Before he could even register what he was doing, one of his crutches swung to his head and knocked him to the ground. 

**Silence.**

It's truly a horrifying device of savagery in the right situation.

He met Alex's gaze for a moment before the two looked down to Dawood.

Unmoving.

** Silent. **

Then came a voice, one in he remembered in the back of his mind, now associated with suffering.

" ** _Oh, you've fucked up now."_**

A single gunshot rang, the bullet piercing the atmosphere like a butter knife. Then as if on command, a good 15, maybe 20 people appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Before they could pull out any weapons they had, the two turned on their heels and ran. Wind blowing in his face, Jimmy couldn't remember a time he's been faster. The speed he had was unhuman, fueled entirely by fear.

"Hang a left, there's a parade!" Jimmy did so and they got lost among the crowds, keeping their heads down. 

"Hey watch it!" Weaving through oblivious children and disdainful parents, the tightly packed groups of people ended too soon and blending in was going to be rougher. Alex took a sharp right towards a building and Jimmy followed. Looking behind him before entering, he saw their pursuers but they didn't see him. Leading him to a windowless corner in the restaurant, the two caught their breaths.

"What are we going to do Alex? Down that way is a dead-end!" He didn't respond right away, looking down to the ground and rolling up his hoodie sleeves to cool off.

"We let them catch up to us."

"Wait... what?"

"We go to an open space and let them come. In such a public space, they'd be braindead to try and hurt us."

"They've already tried! At least in here, we're safe for now."

"Do you really wanna be running and hiding your whole life? You might not get a chance to confront them in such an easy way again."

"I know that but... I don't want anyone else to get hurt. Especially you, Alex. I'll go face them myself."

"I can defend myself Jimmy... this isn't my first rodeo."

"What do you mean it's not your-"

"-And if I feel unsafe, I'll leave ok?" The blatant lie worked and he begrudgingly agreed. 

"Fine! Let's go."

"Huh, right now?"

"Yes right now, before I change my mind." Upon returning to the outside, the Alex noticed Schlatt, talking to a fan and he got an idea.

"Schlatt!" He looked up from signing and once he saw his face, ran over.

"Where the hell have you been!"

"Get everyone out of here!"

"You didn't answer my question."

"Gather your fans, pretend to be a worker. Do whatever it takes to get as many people out of the area. 

"Alexis, explain, now."

"There isn't much time-" With a firm hand on his shoulder, he looked back over to Jimmy and for the first time, there is some sort of confidence in his decaying blue eyes. And maybe it was a little bit unsteady, but it was prevailing.

"They're here."

"MrBeast? Your alive-"

"Just get them out of here!" Alex shouted before following Jimmy to where they were. Upon seeing them, their weapons were raised but lowered as one man came from the crowd of soldiers. Another word in a language the both of them didn't understand and they had them surrounded. Alex and Jimmy ended up back to back, examining the armed associates and sizing them up. Jimmy's hand ended up intertwined with Alex's, squeezing tight as to calm his nerves. Yelling at himself mentally, he took siege of his wandering mind.

_'Calm yourself, breathe, BREATHE DAMNIT! Now look to the enemy, direct eye contact, don't break it, and speak.'_

**"Dawood... it's been a while huh?"**


	12. The Godfather vs The Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't be afraid."

Bhushan never liked Dawood. Actually contrary to popular belief, he hated him. It was on his orders that his father was dead and if he survived this encounter, his death would also most likely be on his orders. But Dawood offered him something no legal means could; revenge. His company meant nothing without that number 1 spot on YouTube. The global eye no longer saw T-Series as an Indian entertainment company but rather the top YouTuber. Take that away and T-Series is nothing but the husk and shell of PewDiePie's enemy. While Bhushan was a calculating and intelligent man, Dawood was unhinged. But his insanity was able to get him revenge. Revenge on the advocator of the destruction of the mantle he worked so hard to build, the company he went to the ends of the Earth for just so he could die believing maybe that somewhere, Gulshan, his father, was proud of him. Now the hellish nightmare world they created for Jimmy was all going to come crashing down. He watched from the shadows, not wanting his face to associate directly with Dawood.

"Dawood, it's been a while, hasn't it?" His demeanor was frightful, but not completely terrified either. Despite him being the enemy, Bhushan sent a small prayer Jimmy's way. His goals were something he could at the very least respect. "If I may, why now do you decide to attack? I've been alone for almost 6 months. You could've killed me at any point... but you choose now? In public to?"

"Gotta tie up my loose ends, you could take revenge on me when I finally reach complete control of India somehow." Another harsh reminder to Jimmy that he could've stopped him long ago but he didn't. He was a coward, but that wasn't going to get in the way of defeating him right here and now, in any way possible. If he didn't, a whole country could suffer because of him. 

"Oh, I've had enough of this!" The one who spoke, Bhushan did not recognize. Before anyone could react, he went after one of the men, grabbing a pocket knife that was attached to their side.

"Stand down, I don't want any extra blood." Suprised, Bhushan watched. The Hispanic man held the blade out, spinning around and aiming it at the expendable soldiers as he went. "How about I cut you a deal... Alex was it?"

"Ya..."

"I'll let you go scot-free, just drop the knife right now."

"And Jimmy comes with me?"

"Jimmy stays, but you get to live."

"Alex just go, I'll be fine." Pushing Alex closer to the small opening in the circle, he couldn't believe what he saw. Alex knew Jimmy was self-sacrificing, like look at his content, but never to this degree. Tugging against the pull, he forced his way back into the circle.

"No, NO, **NO!** " Putting his foot down, he went into a protective stance, guarding Jimmy at most angles. "If you want to get to him, your going through me first. And the saying 'this ain't my first rodeo' most certainly fits me." Dawood didn't respond, he simply looked to one of his soldiers and made a hand gesture. Before Alex could react, his arm got pulled back and trapped into his grasp. Struggling to escape, the knife flew out of hand, right at Jimmy's feet. In Alex's hopeless scuffle, all he could do was pray Jimmy didn't fuck this up for himself.

***

Jimmy's mind felt like it went completely blank, now basically alone in the circle. Noticing the knife at his side, he picked it up, staring into the blade. 

"So what's your plan now? Your friend is gone and you've brought a knife to a gunfight. Might as well now give up now Donaldson!" At that moment, clarity reached his foggy mind. Looking up to his surroundings, the guns around him appeared so much stronger than they ever could be. Fear filled Jimmy to the core as a voice in his head spoke.

** 'You are going to die.' **

A tremble quaked in his body. Sure death seemed nice sometimes, something that could just make the pain shut up for one second but when he actually was face to face with it, he was terrified. And who wouldn't be? He was only 23, barely an adult. There was so much he hasn't done, so many people he hadn't helped.

**And it scared him. It scared him so damn much.**

_"Don't be afraid."_

The voice that he heard this time was so much calmer, peaceful. Despite the sounds lacing that memory was of shattering items and screams louder than he ever has heard before, it didn't matter. His eyes were sheltered from the pandemonium ahead because someone cared enough to make sure he could grow up without that toxic nightmare plaguing his mind. It didn't matter that he had to we tar shoes around the house as to not step in glass, it didn't matter that the house had a stench of smoke and something he didn't recognize, it didn't matter that he didn't know where dad went, all because he didn't have to see it.

Looking back to the knife in his now stable hand, he wondered if he closed his eyes when he had to do this it wouldn't guilt him as much. The quick sudden memory of his mom let him smile. Wiping away his doubts, he met Dawood's eyes.

"Uh, what are you doing?" His steps were slow and calculated. Now just a few feet away from Dawood, his confusion turned to horror.

"That smile... what the... YOU'RE INSANE, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" With one more deep breath, Jimmy let his eyes close and before he could second guess himself, the knife plunged into the chest of the other. The sharp blade broke through bones and organs with the strength of something inhuman but Jimmy's power didn't last long. The agony of a million bullets pierced skin as he collapsed to the ground. He let his eyes open, the blaring of red and blue lights coming from tiny little cop cars made for small spaces.

"CSP HANDS IN THE AIR!" Their guns turned towards the new threat and Alex was roughly dropped to the ground. Rubbing his head, he quickly rushed to Jimmy's side.

"Jimmy, Jimmy talk to me. Are you ok?" The blood beginning to stain his shirt alarmed Alex and he quickly took off his own to use to help keep that blood from leaving his body. Alex didn't know much about how to fix bullet wounds but he knew that he couldn't afford to be losing blood. Especially if something vital to making blood was punctured by the bullet. Keeping pressure on his chest, Jimmy spoke up.

"Are you ok?"

"Huh... ya just got pushed around a bit." He put on a light smile, hoping an ambulance would show up soon.

"But..." His finger traced across an old scar of his from when he got jumped a couple of years back. Concern in Jimmy's gaze, Alex just laughed it off.

"That's old, nothing new ok? Let's just focus on you. Stay awake for me."

"I'm kinda tired though..."

"No no no, Jimmy please don't fall asleep."

"Don't be afraid Alex."

"I-" Before he could finish his thoughts, paramedics rushed past Alex, grabbing Jimmy and bombarding him with questions.

"You, your with him right?"

"Um ya, I'm Alex."

"Ok Alex we are going to wheel him up to the front of the park and an ambulance will be waiting. Anyone else with you?"

"No, sir." 

"Ok, keep up." The paramedics made quick work, weaving through the little crowds to dumb to get out of the way. As the stretcher passed the castle, the ambulance was in sight. One of the paramedics handed him back his shirt with something about how they've got better means to stop the bleeding. Pulling it back on, he could feel small patches of blood that soaked through all of Jimmy's clothes and onto the long-sleeved shirt. Once in the ambulance, a few of the paramedics focused on Jimmy. He tried to talk to him but one paramedic pulled him aside, clipboard in hand.

"We've gotta ask you a few questions ok?"

"Ya, of course, fire away."

"So what's the patient's name?"

"Jimmy Donaldson."

"Any previous and aggregatable medical conditions we should know about."

"Not that I know of. He did hypothermia two nights back but I managed to fix it on my own."

"How do you know it's fixed?"

"I took his temperature and he was just fine."

"Just in case it isn't, when he's stable we'll re-warm the blood. Speaking of, know what blood type he is?"

"No, sir."

"That's ok, and what's your relation to Jimmy?" Thinking on his toes, brother and boyfriend came to his mind. But if they ask for any documentation of him, a brother wouldn't line up.

"Uh, boyfriend."

"Ok, we're almost there, have anyone you want to call?" He thought through his contact list and remembered Chris was on it. It was safe to call Chris now right?

"Yes actually." Pulling out his phone, he scrolled down to Chris, somewhere closer to the bottom of his contact list. Dialing the number, hesitation filled him but Alex thought he deserved to know. Pressing call, the phone rang. And rang, and rang, and rang! But no one picked up. Calling one more time he hoped that he'd answer. After the third ring, it stopped suddenly.

"Chris?"

"Alex... the hell you want I'm really busy right now..."

"...There's something you need to know."

~~~


	13. Is Life & Death Still All That We Know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And NO, I don't care if your view count takes a hit because of it."

Chris's whole world seemed to stop. Coming to a sudden halt in the middle of the sidewalk, his mind blanked of anything else he had to do.

"Jimmy's... back... your not joking with me because if so then I'll..."

"No I'm not joking, he's in an ambulance with me-"

"AMBULANCE? What happened to him is he going to be ok?"

"I don't know, he's suffering from multiple bullet wounds right now."

"BULLET WOUNDS?" Chris took a few breaths, he needed to ask the important questions and make critical decisions. "Where are you heading now?"

"Anaheim Global Medical Center. Do you think you can get to California?"

"Ya, I'll get plane tickets for me, his mom, and his brother as soon as I get home. How did he get bullet wounds though?"

"That's a long story, I'll tell you when you come ok?"

"Alright, I'll be there later this evening." Hanging up, waves of emotion hit him rapidly. Jimmy's alive. After all his hard work funding a charity to find him, hours upon hours of restless nights, just praying somehow he was ok, he was.

But not for long.

Speeding up down the streets, he decided to abandon the other things he had to do today and just pick up Tucker from daycare before buying plane tickets and packing. Keeping a fast pace he decided the next best course of action would be to call Cj and have him call his mom to see if they'd be able to come. Trying to keep his eyes also on the streets ahead of him, Chris dialed his number. It only rang twice before Cj picked up.

"Yo."

"Hey Cj, got some news for you."

"Mhm, what's up?"

"..." Chris tried to find the words to make it a little less of a slap to the face, but he couldn't figure anything out so he went with just being blunt. "...We found Jimmy." The line went silent, Cj most likely processing it.

"You did? ...Where is he?"

"In California. I'm buying plane tickets now so we can be there by early tomorrow. Will you be able to come?"

"Of course, I wouldn't miss this for anything. Is he ok?"

"...Not quite, he's being rushed to the hospital now as far as I know."

"Hospital? How severe is it?"

"Got a ton of bullet wounds I think. None of my workers found him but rather an old friend of him. That Quackity guy."

"Oh god ok ok this is fine we can work with this. Get my ticket ok? I'll text you if my mom can come, but I'm assuming she can. This is her son we're talking about."

"Right, talk to you later." Hanging up again, Chris realized he was already back at the daycare. Pushing the door open, the receptionist was surprised to see him. 

"Back here so soon?"

"Ya, gotta pick up Tucker like right now."

***

"Chandler wake up!" The pushing at his side brought consciousness to the darkness dripping over his sleeping mind. Blinking his eyes open, he had to close them as the room was too bright. The overhead lights were already on. When he realized who was by his side, hovering over his bed, Chandler was surprised. He typically woke up to an alarm or Vik, the only one of the Sidemen was always nice to him and on his side. Well JJ was pretty chill most of the time. But JJ only woke him up if something was wrong. The one time he did it, several months back, he had a look of anger on his face but this time it was concern and unease. Sitting up, Chandler rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Ya, what is it?"

"You might want to see this." Handing him his phone, he saw the first frame of a Twitter video- and was that Jimmy? Confused, he pressed play. There was plenty of talking over whatever was going on in the circle. Chandler's eyes widened at the guns surrounding his friend. He would've known if something like that had happened before so does that mean... When the video ended, he just dropped the phone back to the bed and took a few breaths.

Jimmy just **stabbed** a man.

"...Are you ok-"

"Where is he?"

"I heard some hospital in Anaheim but-"

"I'm going there."

"We don't-"

"I don't care."

"WE DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS EXACTLY COME ON LOGIC CHAN!" JJ's voice overpowered Chandler's constant cutting off and he sighed. "Go call Chris or something, he should know what's going on."

"Right..."

"I'll go look for cheapest flight deals and we'll get ready." Chandler has been keeping his mouth shut through the past few months. Other than Vik and JJ, he couldn't stand the others. Too loud, uncaring, they saw Chandler as an asset to their business. And they weren't wrong, ever since he began popping up in videos, The Sidemen's view count plummeted. Anything for just a taste of the hero they lost the fans would say. But with a mix of all the stress now getting to Chandler's head, he snapped.

"Whoever said we?"

"Um... oh, I assumed we'd-"

"Be smarter than that J, don't assume."

"Well, I guess I'll get one ticket, coming back next week right?"

"What's next week?"

"We're filming a video."

"Then no." JJ stopped in his tracks and Chandler moved to his feet, his bones cracking at the sudden movement.

"No?"

"Ya no, I'm gonna stay as long as I need to sort this out. Then who knows from there. I'll just do what I feel like. And NO... I don't care if your view count takes a hit because of it." Chandler's cold gaze pierced through JJ, it was stronger than any punch he could throw to Logan Paul's stupid face.

"Chandler I-"

"Just go. I need to call him." Defeated, JJ left the room, gently closing the door behind him leaving nothing but a shakey silence in his wake...

***

Once Alex left the police investigation room, relief washed over him. The entire situation made him feel really stressed out. Thankfully he was given permission to see Jimmy after surgery. Making his way down the bustling halls, tight corridors, and down an elevator, he managed to find the waiting room. After asking a girl at the desk, he found out he was still in the procedure. How many times did he actually get shot? Feeling a buzz against his leg, he pulled out his phone. It was from Chris. Alex answered.

"Hey."

"Hey, why didn't you answer? I called you like 8 times!"

"Sorry sorry, I was in police questioning. Where you at?"

"We're heading on a plane now. It's around 7-ish where we are. What time is it up in Cali?"

"4 pm, Jimmy's still in surgery."

"Jesus, how many times did he get shot?"

"Look I know barely more than you do. I'll call you when he gets out ok. Just try to relax."

"Right, I should be there like 11-ish your time."

"That works... oh and uh this might be weird to ask but can I stay with you and your group for a few days. I mean I can afford a hotel for a few extra days but-"

"No don't worry about it! We got a big room since Chandler is also gonna be with us. We can fit you in." Before he could speak again, Alex felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning over, he saw a doctor holding a clipboard.

"Chris, gonna have to call you back."

"Ok then, um cya." He got off the call and the doctor began.

"Your Alexis right, with Jimmy Donaldson?"

"Yes."

"He's out of surgery now. We will be taking him to recovery room 513. The anesthesia should wear off within the hour. I'll take you to the room now so I can explain how it went." Nodding, Alex followed her, weaving through crowds. Once in the room, Jimmy wasn't there.

"Where is he?"

"They are in the process of transferring him. It takes a bit on the stretcher and stuff."

"Right." The doctor began reading things off the clipboard.

"Ok, so he had 13 bullets in him. One was close to fatal but just missed his stomach. Two bullets broke bones which we put back together. He's gonna be very weak for a while but by sometime early to mid-January, he'll be back and moving around just fine again." He's gonna have to use crutches or a wheelchair since it hit his right leg. His left arm was also hit."

"Hm... Oh! The police told me to ask if I can about Dawood's status."

"That's where I was going next... We just got notified he died on his way here. A mix of heart failure and blood loss. I'd say sorry for your loss but I'm assuming you are not on good terms with him."

"...You'd be right there..." Leaning back in the chair, Alex couldn't help but fall quiet. Jimmy actually managed to KILL Dawood... not just attack him. This whole thing could spiral into a murder case, not just a major assault case. 

"Before I forget, there was one more thing." The doctor took a deep breath and Alex nodded, his tenseness hinting at bad news. "Jimmy was legally dead for five minutes." The other's breath hitched for a moment, questions swirled in his mind but what even to ask first?

"How... when!"

"On the way to the emergency room. We managed to revive him quickly enough and when he was stable we did the surgery. While it isn't fully clear since the event was so clear, we suspect exsanguination led to cardiac arrest, the cause of temporary death. But the blood loss from just the bullet wounds though deadly untreated wouldn't lead to cardiac arrest that fast. Do you know if Jimmy had anemia?"

"Not that I know of, but he has been homeless for like the past 5 or 6 months. I've seen plenty of scars, probably naturally healed. If he bled enough because of the wounds maybe his body couldn't produce enough blood to be fully normal if that makes sense. Does stress and cardiac arrest have any correlation?"

"Yes actually, enough stress hormones can increase the likelihood."

"...He's gonna be ok though right?"

"If your worried about him going into cardiac arrest again he shouldn't. We'll be watching his blood pressure and heart rate to make sure of course." Alex couldn't help but jokingly wonder who 'we' in this case was, but he didn't dare say it aloud. 

"He's not gonna die right?"

"No, as of now he's in a non-fatal state." Just as the thoughts processed, the door opened as two more doctors rushed him in. Alex moved out of there way and finally caught a glimpse at Jimmy, his chest rising and falling being the only sign of life he gave off upon first glance. The doctors called a nurse up to stay and monitor. When said doctors left, he had a few moments alone. Sitting down in one of the chairs close to the hospital bed, he got a better look at him. Jimmy's skin was paler than before, most likely from blood loss. A few of the stitches were visible as well as older scars. Alex's eyes were drawn to the one across his face. Maybe when he wakes up he can ask him about that one. 

Opening up his phone again, he decided to check Twitter. He's sure it's gone to hell by now and when he logged in he was right. His dm's were flooded with messages from fans and other influencers alike. A few were death threats and KYS messages from people complaining that he was 'an accessory to murder' but he brushed them off as per-usual and marked everything read before focusing on his friend's message. He took a few minutes to send out replies before moving his phone away. A nurse came in finally to check his vitals.

"How much longer until he wakes up now?"

"Soon, half an hour at most. You can try waking him up yourself. Sometimes that works." Deciding to take her advice, Alex lightly shook at Jimmy.

"Hey wakie wakie." A few more nudges and he gave up. About to get comfortable in the chair, he heard a bit of noise. Jimmy's eyes blinked open but closed again. "Too bright?" He did his best to form what appeared to be a nod and the nurse dimmed the lights in the room. Now with low lighting, Jimmy rubbed his eyes weakly. With conscious movements, Alex couldn't help but feel overly happy. He actually survived...

"Why the smile...?"

"Just thought of something nice, I guess."

~~~


	14. The Nightmare Factory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Please don't make me go back."

The most obscure sound rang across a field as Jimmy blinked his eyes open. If silence could echo, it would sound something like that. Sitting up in the strange field, he noticed there wasn't any color but the pale complexion of his skin. Everything else was gray and faded. The grass that he sat on felt weird to touch. It's texture almost hurt despite being smooth and lacking any sort of edge. Getting on his feet, he finally noticed something dancing across the air. It appeared to be snow, but outside it wasn't cold enough to be snow. Letting a few flakes fall to his hand, he quickly realized it was ash, and Jimmy threw it away, coughing slightly as more ash bits fell on him. Looking up to the gray sky, he noticed a storm in the distance. Deciding it was best to find shelter he began walking. Each step he took felt heavy as if some sort of weight was on his feet. And with every step, he also remembered something horrible. Anything from a small white lie he told to get out of school to lashing out at his loved ones to threatening Chandler. The storm grew louder as his walking slowed down. The wind whipped at him as if the punishment for not moving faster. The farther he went, the more ash appeared which he realized was because he was close to a factory. Said ash and smoke came out of big pipes at the top and the metal structure just screamed old fashioned. It was shelter, it would do. Thunder wailed in the sky and Jimmy picked up his pace, he just had to make it inside. Lightning crashed down, barely missing him and making his heartrate rise. His jog turned to a panicked run. The ground seemed to disappear under his feet so he couldn't turn back and try another way. Adrenaline burning through his veins, he prayed to whatever force that would listen he'd make it inside. The factory door now only 30-so feet away towered over his height making him feel small. Once close enough he tugged at the knobs but they wouldn't budge. Slamming his fists against the door so hard his knuckles stained red, his voice pierced through the air with screams so loud it could shatter glass. Or in this case metal. The door fell off its hinges right inside the factory. 

Upon first glance, the figures inside were clearly not human. Jimmy was pretty tall for someone of his age and lineage but these creatures were monstrous. The shadowy 'people', if you can even call them that, appeared as they had come right out of a creepypasta or an SCP story. Its proportions were loosely defined. The arms were noodle-like things and when fully extended could almost touch the ground when it stood up straight. Instead of eyes, two red lights flickered in out at what he could only assume was the creature's face, emulating an ability to see. Each time the lights were visible, it gave the whole being an aura laced in danger that almost made him back away into the storm.

But his feet refused to move.

"Er uh... sorry for intruding, I'll just go out on the other side." Through the translucent windows, the skies looked clearer. His steps to attempt to get there were slow and forced but something stopped him only a few inches forward. Something grabbed his shoulder, burning like the wildest fire yet cold and icy all at once.

๑۞๑,¸¸,ø¤º°'°๑۩ "ㄚⓞ𝓾'я𝓔 𝐍σ𝕋 ѕǗ𝕡ｐᗝ𝕊єＤ Ｔ𝕆 乃ⓔ Ħ€ᖇ𝐄." ๑۩ ,¸¸,ø¤º°'°๑۞๑

"I'm sorry I don't understand." Jimmy tried pushing the... 'hand'... off of him but it felt as if it didn't even have a real form. The thing wasn't solid, it was some sort of gas or mist. "Do you speak English... maybe Spanish... I know how to ask where the library is!" The creature didn't respond, only making more strange sounds in whatever language it spoke. Too... weird... to be anything like an existing language. He felt for any sort of phone in his pocket to attempt Google Translate but there was nothing in his pocket but a bag full of dust. How did it get there? That isn't his top concern. "Er... Donde Esta la Biblioteca?" Before he could react, one creature had completely trapped him.

✂︎✡︎□︎◆︎🕯︎❒︎♏︎ ⬧︎◆︎◻︎◻︎□︎⬧︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♌︎♏︎ ♎︎♏︎♋︎♎︎📬︎✂︎

"Let me go!"

"̵̢̭̦̮̅̑̔̃̔̈W̵̥̝̖̪̻͋͂̓̾̇̂e̸͔͇͈̥̝̐͆̏̄͌͝l̷̢̺͔͕̤̼̝̓͋ç̸̡̰̲̳̖̺͑̾̉̎̔̒̂ͅô̷̲̯͇̽̓̈́͒̐̂̿͜͝ͅm̷̘̃è̸̟̭͔͛͐ ̷̧̛̫̠͎̝̯͐͊̊͑͜͜ͅt̴̹̹̜̠͙̑̋͊͘̕͝͝͝ȯ̸͉͓̖̗̅͝ ̷̧̲͎̠̍́̈́͂t̶͚̥̪̬͒̔̍̾̓̽̀̅́͠h̸̹́e̷͙̙̊̌̈́̂̍̒̕͝ ̵̺͖͚̞͎̓̍̑N̷̹̺͔̪͇͈̻͑͑͆̓̔̒͐̉͘į̶̣̝͉̫̳̋̓́͜ģ̶̡͎̯̗̖̑͗͊̍̈́̕͠h̷̡̼̣͕͉̞̠̻̹̯̓͒̉̃̽͘͠͝͠t̶̲̗̕̕m̵̢͉͇̫͙̜̖̜͈̋̆̈̌̈́̓̾͝͝â̴̢̨͖̘͑͊̿̕r̷̨̯̹͈̮̞̰̐͂̾̇̐̉e̷̛̛̙̝̖͋̑͐ ̸͉̜̭̪̍̏̒͂̚͝F̶̧̤̳͕̎͒̈̃̇̊a̵̧̼͕͔̻̗̲̜̱̝̔̈́͗͝c̶̯̫̮͇̗̬̓͌͑̑̆̚͜͜ͅͅt̶͚̬̙͙̞̪̹̪̎̾̏̔͗̏͌͜o̵̜̰̮̲͔̗̗̳͙͖̐̊̔̄͂r̵̨̡̤̱͔̬͕̱̒̔̕ͅy̷̢̦͎̝̙̭̭̭͋̐̆͜.̵̢͇͚̟͕͎̂͋͂̒͛͒͋͐ͅ"̵̧̨̝̲̰̬̹̙̐̀

One of the shadowy arms was shoved down his throat making Jimmy immediately gasp for air. Basically no longer in control of his own body, anything that even had the slightest range of movement began flailing. A suffocating feeling encompassing his entire body, a sharp pain suddenly filled his throat. Looking down to see where it was coming from, he saw a sliver of his reflection in a shiny blade. His eyes widened at the sight. If you are normally stabbed, you'd see the handle on the outside, not the blade. So that meant...

As more knives were being... he couldn't even process words to describe it... reverse stabbed? All he knew was that more blades being stuck into him and by the time the arm finally pulled itself out, a good 20-30 blades were sticking out of his body, blood, and sweat dripping down his tattered clothes and trembling frame. Collapsing to the tile, Jimmy took in as much air as he could get. Going to rub his tear-filled eyes, one of the knives ended up breaking the skin and he quickly decided against that venture. Before any shadow monsters could try attacking him again, he forced himself back onto his feet and ran out the giant metal door. 

And right back out into the storm.

The wind was insanely strong, nearly sweeping him off of his feet but he had just enough weight to keep himself grounded. Thunder roared in the skies and he couldn't hug himself to block out the cold atmosphere without making all this pain worse. Just ahead and up a cliff was somewhere that appeared peaceful. The grassy field where he started in was now out of his grasp, the sun shining down on it. It was just his luck that the only place safe was too high up for him to reach. As he stopped for a moment to catch his breath and maybe even better assess the damage scattered across his body, a shiver went down his spine. Turning around, Jimmy immediately regretted it. It wasn't just one shadow creature behind him, it was multiple all oddly put together into one towering monster. He broke out into a run again, hoping that cliff was shorter than it seemed from a distance. 

"Grab on!" As he was about to hit a dead-end, Alex came into view, his hand extended out to pull him up. But with blades sticking out of both hands he felt reluctant. Accepting his help would just hurt Alex more. He couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't he couldn't-

Letting his arm fall to his side, the shadow monster caught up to him. When it grabbed onto him, it sorta felt like he was drowning. Consciousness fading in and out, Jimmy wondered if this what death truly felt like. Sure when he was water-boarded by Dawood and his goons it wasn't all that pleasant, but maybe on his own accord, it wasn't so bad. The darkness around him slowly faded to a bright white...

***

Upon opening his eyes again, everything was pandemonium. People running around, grabbing different things. Trying to sit up, something pushed him back down.

"The patient is stable, get the anesthesia!"

"Roger that." Wait... anesthesia? That meant...

"No... please no..." A needle went into his arm and Jimmy's fight or flight response kicked in. He wasn't going to return to The Nightmare Factory without a fight. 

"SOMEONE HOLD HIM DOWN!" He kept a struggle against the calloused hands on his wrists keeping him pinned down.

"Please..." His voice was growing weaker, more strained with every syllable. He felt numb and his attempts to escape became more futile. As the world began to fade, he managed to grab one of the people, looking them in the eyes.

**"Please don't make me go back."**

_But nobody heard his call..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what guys? The next chapter was supposed to be the epilogue but you get an extra chapter since the near-death nightmare bit took up the whole chapter. Yay :D


	15. Lullaby of Worries, But There Are Some of Hopes and Dreams To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Because I don't want to think."

"Just thought of something nice, I guess..." The return to full awareness was slow, Jimmy's brain seeming to be foggy and heavy. A flash of memory here muffled dialogue from the TV there, he kept going in and out of a trance-like state.

"You killed that man." The sudden words in his mind was like cold water to his thoughts. Why did he believe he killed someone? Closing his eyes, he tried to envision something like that but it all seemed too fake. 

"Jimmy? You look stressed, talk to me." Alex's voice carried him back to his still hazy reality and the other man just went with the question on his mind.

"...Did I kill someone?"

"I-" His breath hitched. Jimmy waited for an answer but Alex was unsure how to just answer something like that. Going into technicalities, it got complicated. Heart failure was the 'technical' cause but that caused by blood loss, which was caused by Jimmy which should make it his fault... It made Alex's head hurt. "I'll give it to you straight... yes you caused the chain of events that led to his death. No, you did not technically kill him. But I mean you didn't hurt anyone innocent. It was Dawood! He hurt you and many other people and he had big plans to harm many other people. You saved the victims of the future and avenged the victims of the past." Jimmy fell silent, turning over on his pillow cautiously. 

"Is it bad I wanna go back to sleep?" he asked, voice weak.

"Because you're tired?"

"Because I don't wanna think." This time it was Alex's turn to go quiet. He wished his words would reach Jimmy right now but the heavily drugged man probably would barely formulate a response.

"Just rest then, I'll be here when you wake up."

"Promise?"

"Promise." As Jimmy's glassy eyes closed, Alex could only hope the other's remarks were solely from the anesthesia...

***

2 hours pass until Chris and his group arrives. Well everyone except Chandler who was gonna show up early tomorrow morning. Greeting them at the hospital entrance, only one thing was on their minds.

"Is Jimmy ok?"

"Yes, he survived and he's just napping now."

"Well then let's go see him!" CJ replied, taking the lead at the front of the trio. But Alex grabbed his wrist bringing his movements to a halt.

"Slow down for a sec, you can't see him just yet."

"Can we when he wakes up?" His mom asked.

"Well... here let me explain..." Guiding them through the hospital corridors, Alex did his best to make it short and concise. "I'd have to ask when he actually wants to see you guys."

"Why wouldn't he? I mean he's been missing for 6 months!"

"As he said, he disappeared for a reason. If I'm recalling correctly, the Indian mafia threatened y'alls lives if he didn't keep his mouth shut."

"Wait who, how?!?!" But he cut her off, finishing what he was saying.

"So I want him to fully know that he's safe and you're safe before you just come barging in. And if he needs a little time to prepare himself then so be it. I promise you'll be able to talk to him, just maybe not today." CJ tried to argue but his mom quieted him.

"I suppose that makes sense, please tell him we love him and we'll be ready when he is." 

"I'll make sure to." The room number comes near. While Chris, Tucker, CJ, and Ms. Donaldson were ushered to a nearby waiting room, Alex returned to Jimmy's room whose blood pressure was being checked. He remembered his earlier promise, now broken but Jimmy didn't seem to know, giving him a weak smile. "Hey, I've got some news for you..."

"What is it?" The nurse made her way out and he returned to the uncomfortable plastic chair by his bedside. 

"Well... you've got visitors."

"The police?"

"No, they're only going to come when you're a little more stable. I mean you have... actual... visitors."

"Like who though?"

"...Your mom, your brother, Chris, and Chandler are here...Well, Chandler will-"

"Why... they shouldn't be..."

"Jimmy it's ok they can know now. Dawood and most of the associates are either dead, on the run or in jail. They won't bother with you and have no way of knowing."

"Do I have to see them now?"

"No no you can wait if you want to. We can start off small to. Maybe if you only want to see a person per day.

"I guess that works."

"Good, I'll tell them they can head back to the hotel for the night."

"Wait, Alex!"

"Hm?"

"...Tell my mom I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"I will."

***

December 24th, 2021

"Uno!" Putting his final card on top of the messy pile, Jimmy laughed as Chandler admitted defeat.

"Good game, good game." 

"Alright, which one of ya wants to go up next against the Uno champion- AW SHIT!" Holding his side, he inhaled sharply before slowly leaning back.

"Careful not to move so fast, just because you get to leave today doesn't mean your fully recovered."

"Believe me I know Chan, mom how long you think it's been since I took the painkillers?"

"Like 3 hours? Maybe one more wouldn't be harmful." One of the pills was handed to him and he quickly swallowed it. 

"Guys we gotta be at the airport in like an hour. Want me to get one of the nurses to double-check his vitals so we can get out?" CJ asked. 

"Great idea." As CJ left, Alex grabbed his cards, straightening them out before slipping the stack through the rubber band, sealing it closed. The room went quiet again. His gaze ended up meeting outside the huge window on the wall. Warm afternoon sunlight streamed in from the glass structure. Jimmy's eyes followed the birds that occasionally flew by. And for once it didn't matter where he paid attention, he had no reason to worry that something bad could happen if he zoned out. That alone took a major weight off of his shoulders.

His mind wandered off into daydreams wondering what might happen next. For lack of better words, 2021 was the shittiest year of his life. Even worse than that pandemic that seemed like ages ago to him. Maybe 2022 would send him something better. The nature outside made Jimmy long for a chance to just go outside and relax. He's always had to have been so on guard that it's been a while since he could just stop and stare.

"Jimmy, the nurse is here, think you can sit up?"

"Ya give me a second..."

***

This was the first time Jimmy has ever had to have been in a handicap spot on a plane. But hey first time for everything. By his side was Alex, mindlessly scrolling through Reddit, a soft laugh here and there. Behind him was CJ and his mom, quietly doing whatever on their phones. And in the final row back were Chris and Chandler, giggling about something probably only they could understand. 

"Heh look at this." The familiar glow of dark mode shone in his eyes as he read the meme. Um, sorry, but what the hell is a 'zimp'?

"Oh my god, Alex I just realized something horrifying!"

"What is it?"

"I missed 6 months of memes!"

"Geez, your right... Don't worry I'll catch you up." The plane's engine rumbled and roared and the vehicle began picking up speed. Time started trickling away. The pair looked through meme compilations of each month he was gone, giving him a general idea of what he missed and a better idea of what is relevant. Slowly, Alex grew more tired, eventually handing his phone over to Jimmy so he could scroll through Reddit on his own. 

He ended up moving from Reddit to Twitter. His name was apparently trending there 4 days ago but now the #MrBeastIsBack was long gone. Going to his profile, he scrolled through the replies to his last tweet. It simply said 'Bye'. And at the time, that was enough for him. Some people were sending welcomes, condolences, asking for money, sending GIF's or clips of the original video, or being mad. Though the video clips were being taken down rapidly as it was against Twitter's TOS, of course, the clips that existed were like a hydra. 10 more popping up when one is taken down. 

Looking to the tweet, he decided to send out a new one. Maybe just a simple hello or something. For right now he didn't want to interact with social media too much. But his fans deserved something right now. Logging into the account, his eyes met his bio.

'I want to make the world a better place before I die.'

Had he really done that? Someone was dead because of him. Not someone innocent sure, but someone with people who did care about him. Dawood should be in a prison somewhere... not actually dead. But everyone around him keeps telling him what he did was fine. Even the police saw him as the potential U.S threat and is glad he's gone. So was he really making the world a better place? The questions lingered in his mind as he clicked send.

'Hello.' 

To some capacity, MrBeast was back, and he couldn't help but smile.

~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the epilogue, so close guys! Also updates on book 2 plans as well as a possible short story about Dawood and Bhushan, and an audiobook will be coming soon. Stay tuned :D


	16. Epilogue - A Beast's Lament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale, after so fucking long I'm sorry

December 25th, 2021

  
For the first time in a while, Jimmy felt properly rested. He had slept in his old bedroom at his mom's house. Waking up at around 11 am, he moved from the bed to his wheelchair and moved out to the kitchen, the smell of cinnamon rolls making him slightly more awake. The whole house, for the most part, was quiet. He was half-expecting a few others to be awake by now but he didn't mind.

"Mornin' mom."

"Morning, you hungry?"

"Ya, are those cinnamon rolls ready?"

"They sure are!" Grabbing the plate pushed in front of him, he didn't hesitate to dig in, a sweet flavor exploding in his mouth. How long has it been since he'd gotten to eat something this good?

"Hey where the others?"

"Well Chris went to go pick up his wife from the airport with Tucker, Alex left to go buy something, and the other two are still here sleeping."

"Gotchu." Jimmy's eyes were drawn to the decorations adorning the house. Red and green tinsel lining the walls and a pine tree in the corner, towering over the living room and sheltering presents wrapped in golds and silvers and blues. "Um when's Christmas?"

"Today actually."

"...Oh..."

"Christmas miracles do exist huh?"

"I suppose they do..." An empty laugh rang in his throat and his mom fell quiet, searching for words, and then speaking up again.

"I don't think you understand, there is nothing none of us wanted more than for you to return. We weren't going to just forget you like you seem so inclined to believe."

"I didn't think you'd forget me, just thought maybe you'd give up the search..." Before his mom could reply, the front door opened revealing Chris, Katie, and Tucker. 

"Unc Jim!" Chuckling at the attempt, he moved his cinnamon rolls aside and went to greet them. After reuniting with Katie, he moved out to the living room. "Chrimas?" Tucker asked, clinging onto his dad's leg.

"Yes once Uncle Alex gets back."

"He calls him Uncle Alex oh this is too wholesome!"

"I know right? Tucker is too precious for this world."

"And then he's gonna be 13 and pretending to drink bleach on the internet for views. Not so precious then."

"I guess we'll see!" The door opened again, this time Alex coming in, some bag in hand. "Hey, how'd it go?" Chris asked.

"Pretty good!"

"What's in the bag?" Jimmy chimed in.

"Don't worry about it."

"Ok...?" It was placed under the tree and Chris left to go wake up the other two. Alex took a seat next to him, letting his legs prop atop the couch. Looking over to the man, he couldn't help but feel so close yet so far from him. The wheelchair supposedly for his safety just made Jimmy feel more caged, more cold. Looking over to the hand hanging off of the couch, he used his good arm to grasp onto it, comfort coming to his chilly bones.

"Hm?" The other looked up curiously.

"Uh sorry I can let go-"

"No, I don't mind."

"...Is it weird that I'm wanting human contact this much? It's almost as if I'm... I'm..." Jimmy couldn't find the words but Alex filled in.

"Touch starved?"

"Ya, something like that." The two stayed quiet, Alex returning to whatever he was doing on his phone. Minutes pass. Feet slowly made their way down the steps. Chandler might as well been sleepwalking, his bedhead was quite messy and his eyes were drooped to avoid the glaring mid-morning sun, meanwhile, CJ looked slightly more put together, glasses on and hair pushed back but not fully brushed either.

"Chrimas?" Tucker asked again, his baby talk still encompassing his speech.

"Mhm, Christmas time." Chris sat down before reaching after one of the presents, assumingly for Tucker. Alex sat up, now mildly entertained by the child's poor attempts to bat the gift open. By his side came Chandler who was weakly holding a mug swirling with coffee, small bursts of steam shooting into the atmosphere. A few minutes passed before he felt a light jab to his side, grabbing his attention.

"I think there is something under that tree for you," Alex told him with a smirk.

"Oh?" The beanie-wearing man stood up, bringing him a small white gift bag embellished in glittery silver snowflakes, the kind that left residue on your hands after just brushing past it. Using his good arm to pull out pale blue tissue paper, Jimmy wondered how and when they even got a gift for him. They never knew he was going to be coming until earlier that week and he certainly never asked for anything. Feeling a box slip between his fingers, he grasped on and pulled it out. "An iPhone 13? Jesus isn't those things like almost 2k?"

"Ya, but your other phone was basically 6 feet under anyway. Besides, it's got a built-in thermometer so we can take action if you get hypothermia again!"

"Wait he had hypothermia?" Chris asked, getting a chuckle out of Alex.

"Long story."

"Th-thank you so much!"

"Hey don't be thanking me too much, it was Chris's money after all." Jimmy just decided to pull Alex in for a hug using his good arm and motioning for Chris to join with his broken arm.

"You two are too nice for your own good..."

"Heh, kind of ironic coming from you bud."

***

Jimmy was quite excited for dinner at first, finally a homecooked meal after so long was going to be amazing! But then he proceeded to be sick because his stomach had grown accustomed to very small amounts of food with little actual sustenance over the past 6 months. So he had to stick with the mashed potatoes, the salad, and a little bit of the turkey. Still, the food beat anything he had eaten over the last half a year and he was promised a proper Thanksgiving-style meal whenever he could handle it.

Once dinner was done, everyone split up to go do their own thing. His mom left to go play solitaire and watch Good Times reruns elsewhere, Chris and Katie took Tucker with them since it was his bedtime, and CJ along with Chandler went to go play some newly released video game he never had heard of. This left Alex and Jimmy out in the living room, wondering what they should do. 

"Want me to start the fire? It's only gonna get chiller with that snowstorm coming."

"If you wanna..." Adding a bit of kindling, it wasn't too long before orangy flames flew up against the brick walling. Placing a guard around it, Alex returned to the couch, laptop in arms.

"I'll probably just edit a bit. When this whole thing settles over, I'll need some content ready. You, I think should check your DMs. I saw a tweet about Keem wanting an interview with you." Pulling out his phone, Jimmy logged into Twitter and went searching for Killer Keemstar.

"Yep he sure is, what should I tell him?"

"Probably no, for now, I mean really it's up to you but in my opinion, you should wait a bit."

"No no that makes sense, probably not even legally allowed to start shooting out details to just anyone quite yet."

"True..." He gave a response to the somehow still not dead YouTuber. Something along the lines of "No not right now, promise I'll give you the scoop later, tell the fans I'm doing better." After this Jimmy scrolled through his DMs. Lots of confused fans ended up there, asking if he truly killed someone. Other YouTuber's asked if he was doing ok and if he went deep enough, a few vent DMs could be found from Chandler which he decided he'd read later when he was emotionally ready for whatever he said. Going down further, Jimmy even found Leafy's concern for him. It was quite surreal to see these messages, some dating back to 5 or so months ago wondering where he was or what happened.

The howling winds outside grew louder as the blizzard drew near. Gusts beating against the window reminded him of storms when he was out on the streets and instinctively, he curled up closer to Alex who gave him a soft laugh.

"I'm not going anywhere don't worry."

"Sorry, I just-"

"Hey, you don't need to keep apologizing. Just relax a bit. Sony Vegas is starting to act up, might as well take a break before something goes wrong." Saving his progress, Alex put the laptop aside and Jimmy moved his head to his lap. "Heh, am I comfy?"

"Mhm..." The two fell quiet for a moment with nothing but the barking gale and the crackling fire to fill the air. His eyes shut and a few minutes later, a question came to Jimmy's head. "Alex?"

"Ya?"

"Do you know what the plan is now?"

"Well, I think they wanna set up your house again since some of your valuables got moved to storage. Chandler I'm pretty sure will move in with you again but Chris has his own house now."

"What about you?"

"I've gotta go back to Mexico. Me still being here is legally stretching it. I'm planning to leave a bit after new years."

"I've never been there before, what's Mexico like?"

"The parts most people go visit are really pretty and peaceful. Nice beaches, good food, and respectful locals."

"What do you mean where most people visit?"

"...I mean there's also where I live."

"And that is?"

"Zona Norte, a decent-sized neighborhood in Tijuana. It's a red light district to and considering it's so close to the Mexico-US border, it's just an accident waiting to happen. All kinds of crimes related to drug sales, prostitution, and theft are common there. But if you avoid going out at night your pretty safe. That's why my streams are always so late."

"If it's that dangerous why are you still living there?"

"I can't really afford to move out. I mean ad-revenue is a bitch on my end and due to the type of content I make, I don't get sponsors all that often. Besides as long as I'm careful it's not all that bad there."

"Do you wanna move to America at some point?"

"Ya, becoming a legal U.S citizen is on my to-do list. I'd be able to make all kinds of other content so much easier just by living in America." A yawn filled the room before Jimmy spoke up once more.

"What if ya just moved to Greenville?" Alex chuckled, what a childish thought that was.

"Oh, you're funny. Didn't I just tell you I can't afford it?" Jimmy opened one eye and met Alex's gaze, a semi-serious look on his face.

"Well I mean look at who you're talking to."

"Jimmy you can't actually get me to move to America. Do you realize how complicated that would be?"

"I'm MrBeast Alex. Nothing is too complicated for me and my team."

"Your not really MrBeast right now. Currently, you are Jimmy Donaldson, a man who just barely escaped death and should be focusing on himself right now. Mexico is not that bad. I'm planning to move out of Tijuana soon anyway."

"Right but I don't want ya to go. Your nice!"

"Oh uh thank you... But really can't just do that. Getting just a green card is difficult enough as is."

"Me and the boys can set you up with what you need!"

"Ok so in the theoretical scenario in which I get my green card, abandon everything I've known in Tijuana for Greenville North Carolina, where would I live?"

"We can get you a flat anywhere in the town or you can stay with me and Chan."

"And what based card would I be getting?"

"Employment maybe? You can work under the MrBeast company. All you'd need to do is pop-up in videos here and there so it'd count. Being there would only boost your ratings to." Alex couldn't lie, what he was selling was appealing, though unrealistic. "The doctor told me to try to get back into a consistent routine. Helping people was my constant for so long! Please, at least let us try."

"...Tomorrow we'll figure it out ok?"

"It's not a no!"

"...It's not a no."

***

The days that passed were rough. Jimmy was deadset on getting the paperwork needed for Alex to get his green card. While Garret and Chris led a small team of Desire Drive workers on closing down the MrBeast orientated funds, re-opening bank accounts and generally making Jimmy prepped for society again, at least in some aspects. A smaller team out of those Desire Drive employees moved some items put back in storage to his house. It was quite surreal for Jimmy to meet his financial advisor Ryla. All of his employees always were personally taken care of by him. Not a single person worked for him without meeting with him typically several times but her... She had dedicated her entire (but short) professional career to a company linked to him and yet never had met him until now. 

Jimmy couldn't do much for the next few weeks, being bound to his wheelchair and all. Not wanting to fully invest himself into the internet so quickly, he took on poetry and doodling to keep himself entertained when Alex and the boys were out of the house. He wasn't the best at it; his drawings definitely not on par to that of the cartoons and anime he watched and the poetry never quite rhyming but it took his mind off of the chaos his life had become. The creative work he did stayed personal for the most part, he was not the most confident in his ability, after all. But he did post some of his work to a small anonymous Instagram called "mister divine" where he took on an aesthetic artsy persona. 

When they were home, however, they caught him up on movies and tv-shows he missed in his absence. In a world where even a few thousand people gone in an instant meant nothing to the general machine of society, the media certainly didn't slow down due to his disappearance. The day he got his arm cast off, they made smores around the outdoor fire pit and told stories. Alex ended up becoming the center of attention for the insane anecdotes of his youth. The shanagins he and his friends got into were outlandish but somehow mildly believable. From eating weed he was told was dried kelp to staying in a strip club for nearly an hour on complete accident when he was just 8 years old, his stories were nothing short of exciting.

Everything was going pretty easy until just three days after new years. Jimmy met up with a public relations worker named Darren Rickson who was requested for his case. Chris told him they wanted to send out a short statement on the Disneyland Fiasco to calm the ramped theorizing and panic. 

"So let me clear this up." Jimmy began that afternoon. "I don't need to reveal like what happened to me when I was kidnapped and stuff."

"No, for now just explain what happened in Disney that day and why Dawood was there."

"What about B-"

"Just Dawood. He was the only one significant there right?"

"Ya... Where should I post the statement? YouTube, Twitter, Instagram..."

"Leave a link to one of those longer tweet sites on Twitter. Perfect size for clearing things up." Opening up one of those sites, Jimmy began writing. The first thing to inform people about would be exactly who he killed.

 _I just wanted to clear things up about the Disneyland Fiasco, there is a lot of misinformation and I want everything to be clear and concise. The man who was stabbed is one Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar; head of D-Company, the primary Indian crime syndicate (mafia group), and is an Indian terrorist. He has a bounty on his head of over $25 million and is believed to have had a role in the Bombay bombings. So why was he in Disney? He wanted me dead. About a year ago on December 19th, 2020, I was kidnapped by him. Dawood and another one of his associates wanted my wealth. After about two weeks, I gave into him taking 90% of each of my videos ad revenue and I was returned home, threatened to keep my mouth shut. Somehow, I played off the whole thing as me taking an electronic free, unprecedented road trip because "YouTube was stressing me out." No one knew about any of this until after the Disneyland fight._ Jimmy took a breather, re-reading what he had written so far. 

"Want me to look it over?" Darren asked.

"Nah I've got more ideas of what direction this should take. Gimmie a minute." His fingers continued their tango across the keys.

 _You might've also seen another big YouTuber, QuackityHQ, along with me. He saved my life from some of Dawood's associates a few days earlier and was planning on just finishing his Vid-Con obligations before taking me back to Greenville. But then, of course, they attacked leaving us to fight back. I don't believe anyone was caught in the crossfire (except for myself). But if anyone was hurt because of my actions I deeply apologize. I should've looked after the safety of the park guests more._ Darren had noticed Jimmy had visibly tensed. About to stop him, his typing only became faster and more ferocious. _I should've just run away like I originally intended. I shouldn't have killed him, I shouldn't have-_

"Jimmy." His eyes darted up swiftly, a light smile seeming to trail behind a bit. "How about I give it a few edits real quick?"

"Oh ya right sorry!" Handing Darren the laptop, Jimmy heard "incoherent" and "redundant" under the other's breath. 

"Here, you approve of this being sent out?" The version he read over seemed a lot more refined, still keeping with the core ideas but being treated less like an apology and more like a formal statement. Guess if that's what he wants...

"This is perfect! I'll tweet it out now." The TwitLong link was attached to a regular tweet and sent out, quickly gaining responses, most at first just being bots asking for money. Some things never change...

***

"We submitted all the forms! ...Yes, we did an I-864... Form I-551? ...No for the last time we are NOT applying for citizenship. We are trying to GET the Green Card!" Jimmy's first day back at his old house was going about how he excepted it to. Bad. With Chris on the phone with one of the USCIS employees who apparently barely spoke English, he was on hold for several hours and the back and forth wasn't getting anyone anywhere. "Yes, we filled out an I-185... WHAT THE HELL IS A SUPPLEMENT J! ...Ya, I'll get his boss to fill it out I'll bring it with me Monday... Ok, thank you..." Hanging up, Chris collapsed into the couch next to Jimmy.

"I heard you on the phone, what form is it?"

"I-185, Supplement J. CHANDLER!" It took him a few moments but a sleepy-looking Chandler emerged from his room.

"I'm about to start a League match what do ya want?"

"You gotta print out this form!"

"Ok but the office has a printer just use that."

"The office is a five-minute drive from here!"

"It wouldn't kill you to go there."

"Chris I have an old printer in my room want me to just plug that in?"

"Yes thank you, Jimmy. Need any help up the stairs?"

"I keep telling you the stairs have railings for a reason."

"Whatever whatever..." It still took a bit out of him going up but he reached the top fairly quickly. Meeting him in his room was Alex, checking something on his phone. Since the room, he was going to move into had no furniture (Chris's old room), he was sharing his room for now. Jimmy didn't mind though, his presence being helpful to anchor himself if a midnight panic attack clawed at his mind.

"What ya up to?" Alex asked as he began digging through a pile of assorted things for the printer.

"Gotta print out ANOTHER form! Something J, I dunno. I mean we just want you to be a citizen of another country it shouldn't be this complicated!" The other chuckled at Jimmy's response.

"Look we don't have to keep going through with this-"

"Oh hush we're already too deep, might as well see it out to the end."

"That's what she said."

"Goddamnit Alex." After finding the correct form he needed, he printed it out and began filling in certain parts to it. 

"After this form is filled out, how long you think till I'm approved?"

"Well you know that I know people, they'll be able to help make sure the process is quicker."

"Alright good! Wait I got stuff back at my house when should I be able to pick that up?"

"While your forms finish being approved I can have movers come help you."

"Really? Thank you, you've helped way more than you needed to with all of this."

"No you deserve it... You've helped me so much more than I think you can realize. Alex you didn't just save my life in that alleyway or in Disney, you set me free from this cage in my mind. For a whole fucking year I've just been paranoid and scared and distrustful but now..." Tears welled up in Jimmy's eyes, now meeting the other mans gaze. "I don't have to be."

***

The door unlocked. God how long has it been since he's been here? The warehouse was like his second home, he missed it. The employees that chose to stay followed behind him. Desire Drive themed stuff was still on the wall but he had plans for the organization to continue as a charity for missing children. Passing all the offices, waves of nostalgia went over him. Jimmy couldn't wait to show Alex all of this. He was currently back up in Mexico getting all of his belongings so he had about a week to get this place in perfect shape. Returning to the main room where most videos were recorded, ideas rushed into his head. He's been wanting to do something with Segways, that'd be fun! Bringing his attention back to the employees that were filing in, he cleared his throat.

"Alright everyone gather around! It's the first day back but we got lots to start working on. Me being gone definitely set back work on some projects so now we gotta catch up. We've lost some people in the process of setting everything back up so, for now, some of you are gonna have to help out on different things. Karl, take about half of the editors to the break room and start planning out realistic video ideas. Our budget is going to be abnormally low for a bit until we restabilize as a channel. So think of stuff that doesn't take too many big flashy items."

"Got it!" Karl went with a group of people to a far corner to divide up and Jimmy sorted through all the things that needed to be done, continuing to give the employees tasks.

"Bailey, take about 3 or 4 cameramen and 15k. Go buy anything you think the office needs. I'm sure lots of the equipment has collected dust and might be wearing down."

"I thought you said our budget was low!"

"I mean like we can't spend 5 mil on one video right now. Can't afford to be scrapping videos right now either. What we make should be coming out perfectly the first time. Seamus! I know you're good with stuff involving the algorithm so keep collecting data. We need whatever the new content coming out to appease it so we can maintain relevancy while we regain lost growth time. Also when you can send out a message to the 100 man Discord saying we'll start making new challenges in the next coming months.

"Jimmy with all due respect I don't think we should be rushing to pump out new content so soon, right now you at least should be at home spending more time with the people you've gotten separated from."

"That's sort of what I'm doing. YouTube is what I consider my normal and my staff are the people I love being around. And of course, getting my fans high-quality content is of utmost importance to me. I don't want to ever go that long without making videos ever again, the wild world of YouTube is what keeps me grounded, ya know?" A loud sigh echoed in the warehouse.

"You are a goddamn workaholic Jimmy... but I can respect it." With Seamus and his team gone, he finished up group-making.

"The teams that were working on Team Seas and the Beast Brand Homeless Shelters need to reconvene. I'll meet with both of you guys sometime this afternoon. The finance workers... uh already told you your tasks over email... and anyone else who still doesn't have anything. Go meet in the Editors room and start sifting through all the responses to our interest questionnaire. Chandler I sent you the access link so make sure the group has that. Pick out a few things that seem realistic and desired amongst the community. I need to call Devon and make sure he's still coming up this weekend for the meeting. Oh and Chris!"

"Mhm?"

"Confirm with the movers that they'll be at Alex's place by the 26th. If not call Devon he'll get actually competent movers there. And one more reminder that we have a whole group meeting tomorrow afternoon." He got a mixed reply of yes's and the like before everyone split off to go to different rooms. Humming a little tune he couldn't quite remember the name of, Jimmy took in everything around him, enjoying the familiar comfort the office brought. His little corner of the warehouse was left untouched during the Desire Drive rebranding so all he to do was set down his laptop and everything would be perfect again. Leaning back in his PewDiePie chair, he was prepared to make his phone call, something caught Jimmy's eye. A note. "Ugh is Chris gonna do that bit again with hiding 420 notes in the office that say 69?" Unraveling it, what he saw wasn't the numbers 69, or any sort of joke from any of his employees. Not anyone asking him anything or welcoming him back or wanting to set up a meeting. No, what he saw made his blood run cold, his skin pale, and his heart skip a beat.

_I think someone else wants you dead._

~Everlasting hate, Bhushan Kumar

**~~~**

**To be continued in book 2**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Information on book 2 and the audiobook coming soon. Thank you for joining me on this adventure and I'll see you in the final notes!
> 
> ~ Fear Itself


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